Published October 1, 2026 at 3:15 PM ET · Updated October 2, 2026 at 2:24 AM ET
Justices take up Trump immigration case that could revive catch-and-release limits
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⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Shaughnessy v. Mezei allowed the government to detain an arriving alien without a hearing, even indefinitely when no country accepts him. Zadvydas v. Kim Ho Ma held detention cannot be indefinite: after six months the government must justify holding or release. Catch-and-release limits turn on whether detainees are arriving aliens under Mezei or removable aliens already inside the country under Zadvydas.
Shaughnessy, District Director of Immigration and Naturalization, v. United States ex rel. Mezei 345 U.S. 206 (1953)
Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Justice Tom C. Clark
An alien stopped at the border seeking initial entry may be excluded without a hearing on the basis of confidential information the Attorney General declines to disclose, and his continued exclusion — even where it means indefinite detention on Ellis Island because no other country will take him — does not violate due process. 'Harborage at Ellis Island is not an entry into the United States': Mezei remained legally 'an entering alien' despite his prior residence in Buffalo from 1923 to 1948, because he had departed for 19 months behind the Iron Curtain and was seeking readmission.
Zadvydas v. Kim Ho Ma) 533 U.S. 678 (2001)
Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Justice Stephen G. Breyer
8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6), read in light of the Constitution's demands, limits an alien's post-removal-period detention to a period reasonably necessary to bring about that alien's removal from the United States; it 'does not permit indefinite detention.' The Court adopted six months as the presumptively reasonable detention period: after six months, once the alien provides good reason to believe there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future, the government must rebut that showing or release the alien (under supervision).
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
