Opinion ID: 6983223
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Gisbert and Excludable Aliens

Text: Article 1, section 8, clause 4 of the Constitution vests in Congress the power to “establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.” Moreover, “[t]he exclusion of aliens is a fundamental act of national sovereignty” that “stems not alone from legislative power but is inherent in the executive power to control the foreign affairs of the nation.” See United States ex rel. Knauff v. Shaughnessy, 338 U.S. 537, 70 S.Ct. 309, 312, 94 L.Ed. 317 (1950). See also Chae Chan Ping v. United States, 130 U.S. 581, 9 S.Ct. 623, 630, 32 L.Ed. 1068 (1889) (discussing sovereignty justification). The basic source of this interest is identical regardless of whether the government seeks to exclude an alien who has not entered, or to expel an alien who has resided here. See Fong Yue Ting v. United States, 149 U.S. 698, 13 S.Ct. 1016, 1019, 37 L.Ed. 905 (1893) (“The right of a nation to expel or deport foreigners who have not been naturalized ... is as absolute and unqualified, as the right to prohibit and prevent their entrance into the country.”). When these principles are taken together, it is clear that “the power to expel or exclude aliens [is] a fundamental sovereign attribute exercised by the Government’s political departments largely immune from judicial control.” Fiallo v. Bell, 430 U.S. 787, 97 S.Ct. 1473, 1478, 52 L.Ed.2d 50 (1977) (quoting Shaughnessy v. United States ex rel. Mezei, 345 U.S. 206, 73 S.Ct. 625, 628, 97 L.Ed. 956 (1953)). See also Harisiades v. Shaughnessy, 342 U.S. 580, 72 S.Ct. 512, 519, 96 L.Ed. 586 (1952) (“It is pertinent to observe that any policy toward aliens is vitally and intricately interwoven with contemporaneous policies in regard to the conduct of foreign relations, the war power, and the maintenance of a republican form of government. Such matters are so exclusively entrusted to the political branches as to be largely immune from judicial inquiry or interference.”)- The power of the national government to act in the immigration sphere is thus essentially plenary. Aliens can of course claim some constitutional protections. The language of the due process clause refers to “persons,” not “citizens,” and it is well established that aliens within the territory of the United States may invoke its provisions. See, e.g., Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 6 S.Ct. 1064, 1070, 30 L.Ed. 220 (1886); Wong Wing v. United States, 163 U.S. 228, 16 S.Ct. 977, 981, 41 L.Ed. 140 (1896) (illegal resident alien could not be punished by sentence to hard labor without due process of law). While the cases have drawn a line for some purposes between excludable aliens who failed to effect entry into the country unimpeded and resident aliens, in this Circuit it is clear that the former also can be considered persons entitled to protection under the 14th Amendment. See Lynch v. Cannatella, 810 F.2d 1363, 1375 (5th Cir.1987) (“Ex-cludable aliens are not non-persons.”). We cannot suppose that the result in Wong Wing would have been different had the alien there been excludable rather than resident. However, alien status can affect our analysis of constitutional rights. Because of their special position, certain classifications and restrictions that would be intolerable if applied to citizens are allowable when applied to resident aliens. See, e.g., Cabell v. Chavez-Salido, 454 U.S. 432, 102 S.Ct. 735, 740, 70 L.Ed.2d 677 (1982) (state’s exclusion of resident aliens from basic governmental functions did not violate the constitution). 10 See also DeCanas v. Bica, 424 U.S. 351, 96 S.Ct. 933, 47 L.Ed.2d 43 (1976). More importantly for the issue before us, courts have long recognized that the governmental power to exclude or expel aliens may restrict aliens’ constitutional rights when the two come into direct conflict. See Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U.S. 67, 96 S.Ct. 1883, 1891, 48 L.Ed.2d 478 (1976) (“In the exercise of its broad power over naturalization and immigration, Congress regularly makes rules that would be unacceptable if applied to citizens.”). Indeed, the Court has accepted collateral damage to the constitutional rights of citizens as an acceptable price to pay in deference to the plenary power over aliens of the political branches of the national government. See Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753, 92 S.Ct. 2576, 2582-84, 33 L.Ed.2d 683 (1972) (recognizing citizen audience had First Amendment interest in listening to communist agitator, but accepting government’s exclusion of alien speaker despite this interest). See also United States v. Williams, 194 U.S. 279, 24 S.Ct. 719, 48 L.Ed. 979 (1904). Zadvydas claims that his detention amounts to punishment without trial, and thus violates his substantive due process liberty interest. It is well established that resident aliens may not be punished in this manner. See Wong Wing, 16 S.Ct. at 981. However, the Wong Wing court distinguished between the unconstitutional act before it — which made illegal presence in the country summarily punishable by a sentence to being “imprisoned at hard labor” for not more than a year and provided that the alien would be “thereafter removed from the United States” (emphasis added) — and detention pending deportation. “Proceedings to exclude or expel would be in vain if those accused could not be held in custody pending the inquiry into their true character, and while arrangements were being made for their deportation.” Id. at 980. We have clearly held- that excludable aliens may be detained pending deportation without such detention constituting unconstitutional punishment, even when the aliens’ country of origin indicates it will not accept their return. See Gisbert v. U.S. Attorney General, 988 F.2d 1437, 1448 (5th Cir.1993). See also Barrera-Echavarria v. Rison, 44 F.3d 1441, 1450 (9th Cir.1995) (en banc) (accord with Gisbert). Gisbert dealt with the detention of a group of Cubans who were part of the Mariel boatlift. After detaining these aliens prior to entry — thus ensuring that they were excludable aliens — the United States decided that they should be returned to their country of origin. Castro refused to accept their return, however, and the aliens were released on immigration parole. Due to the working of the “entry fiction,” 11 the aliens retained their excludable status despite their freedom on American soil. All of the aliens in Gisbert then committed, and were convicted of, crimes while on parole. After their release from the criminal justice system, the aliens were detained pending deportation to prevent any further criminal acts. In Gisbert, as under the provisions here, there was a procedure that allowed the detained alien to be released from detention while deportation was still impractical. See id. at 1443 n. 11 (detailing annual review procedures that allowed release of aliens found not to present a danger to the community). The aliens did not challenge the conditions of their confinement or the procedures used in the initial decision to deport them. They instead argued that their continued confinement constituted punishment without a criminal trial and thus violated their substantive due process rights. They emphasized the fact that in light of Castro’s refusal to accept their deportation, their confinement was potentially indefinite. We rejected these arguments and held that the continued, indefinite detention of the aliens did not violate their constitutional rights. In reaching this result, we relied on the Court’s decision in Mezei, in which it allowed the indefinite detention of an excludable alien who had been ordered permanently excluded and could find no nation to receive him. See Mezei, 345 U.S. 206, 73 S.Ct. 625, 97 L.Ed. 956. Drawing on the reasoning of Mezei, we found that detention pending deportation does not constitute punishment, since the detention could rationally be seen as a necessary byproduct of the need to expel an unwanted alien rather than a punitive decision. Gisbert, 988 F.2d at 1442. The continued detention of Mariel Cubans thus did not constitute punishment without trial in violation of the aliens’ substantive due process rights, even though there was no guarantee that deportation could be effectuated in the near future. Zadvydas attempts to distinguish Gisbert and Mezei on the ground that he is a resident alien, and thus is entitled to a greater degree of substantive due process protection than the excludable aliens in those cases. Zadvydas’ resident alien status surely entitled him to greater procedural rights in the determination of whether he was entitled to remain in the United States than were granted the ex-cludable aliens in those cases. However, Zadvydas does not challenge here the procedures used by the government in deciding to deport him, or the final result. His only complaint is with the detention itself. As explained in part IV below, we do not believe that the difference between excludable aliens and resident aliens mandates a radical departure from the reasoning of Gisbert when, as here, a final decision to deport the once resident alien has been made and stands unchallenged.