Opinion ID: 482845
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Other Alleged Inconsistencies

Text: 90 Reconcilation of the provisions of the Refugee Act and of the parole statute in this commonsense manner does not, however, end this phase of our inquiry. The petitioners offer several other supposed bases upon which they claim that the Refugee Act undercuts the legality of their continued detention. Some of these theories merit added comment. 91 The appellants argue at length that the INS, whatever its stated reasons for detaining asylum applicants, is in reality employing quarantine as a form of coercion in an impermissible attempt to force asylum seekers to abandon the prosecution of their applications. In their view, such coercion countermands the aims and entitlements of the Refugee Act, is punitive in its essence, and is fundamentally unfair to boot. But, this argument topples of its own weight. As we have mentioned repeatedly, the intention of the government is to protect our shores against a wave of itinerant asylum seekers bent on circumventing the coherent scheme of the Refugee Act, not to punish aliens for seeking asylum. 92 These cases testify eloquently to the core element of the problem. After all, these four petitioners were detained before they became applicants for asylum. Moreover, if they had resorted not to self-help, but to the regular procedures envisioned by the Refugee Act itself, their applications for admission would have been considered without the occasion or the need for any interim detention. Seen in this light, the plea that the appellants are being punished rings hollow. They have, at all times, had the option to return to the countries which they used as springboards in their efforts to reach the United States. 9 They were detained only when the government was forced, by their voluntary actions, to exercise its conceded authority to hold them pending inspection of their bona fides. Just as the disability of pretrial detention does not amount to punishment in the constitutional sense, Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 537-39, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1873-74, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979), neither does the disability incident to the justifiable temporary detention of excludable aliens. Cf. Doe v. Gaughan, 808 F.2d 871, 879 n. 9 (1st Cir.1986) (in civil commitment context, often restrictions on freedom may resemble punishment, but that mere resemblance does not equate to ... unconstitutionally inflicted punishment). 93 Next the appellants assert that, even in the absence of some express statutory conflict, the 1982 INS regulations violate the Refugee Act of 1980 by attempting in a thinly-veiled way impermissibly to curtail asylum applications. This ipse dixit, too, is devoid of any substance. On their face, the regulations are valid. The Attorney General has been ceded authority by Congress--authority which he has properly delegated to the INS--to publish such regulations as he deems necessary to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act. 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1103 (1982); see also 8 C.F.R. Sec. 2.1 (1986). Both the detention regulations, 8 C.F.R. Sec. 235.3, and the parole regulations, 8 C.F.R. Sec. 212.5, were enacted under the clearest statutory claim of right. See 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1225(b) (1982) and 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1182(d)(5) (1982), respectively. 94 For aught that appears of record, the INS has promulgated its regulations in apparent compliance with the imperatives of the Administrative Procedure Act. Jean v. Nelson, 727 F.2d at 962; Ishtyaq, 627 F.Supp. at 22. See also 8 C.F.R. Secs. 212.5, 235.5; 47 Fed.Reg. 30,044 (proposed July 9, 1982), as amended, 47 Fed.Reg. 46,493 (Oct. 19, 1982). These regulations speak, loudly and distinctly, for themselves: their purport was not to curb asylum applications, but to secure this country's borders against a large flow of illegal immigrants (many of whom might not qualify for either refugee or asylum status). See 47 Fed.Reg. 30,044, supra. Even upon the most searching scrutiny, no impropriety appears. 95 The detention of undocumented or fraudulently documented aliens, with parole possible only in the Attorney General's discretion, undoubtedly discourages some aliens from trying to circumvent the orderly procedures of the Refugee Act. Yet, this is not the unmitigated evil which the appellants envision. Far from undermining the Refugee Act, the INS regulations encourage compliance with the immigration laws and deter attempts to evade those laws. Asylum, which remains available to proper applicants (as determined by Congress and the Attorney General), is limited only insofar as persons might desire to employ it as a device to avoid the normal application process in an at-all-costs effort to achieve immigrant status. Neither the discretionary denial of parole nor the 1982 INS regulations transgress the letter (or for that matter, the spirit) of the Refugee Act of 1980. This aspect of the petitioners' challenge is unavailing. 96 It is unnecessary for us to consider the appellants' remaining contentions with regard to the Refugee Act. Those arguments are either subsumed in the foregoing or are so jejune that they do not warrant discussion. 10