Human Rights First welcomed the Court’s decision to reject the U.S. Government’s policy of indefinitely detaining foreign nationals in the United States whose home countries will not accept their return. The Court, in a 7-2 judgment written by Justice Antonin Scalia, held that non-citizens have the right to be free from indefinite detention. The Court concluded that the statute relied on by the Government to support the practice of indefinite detention only authorized detention for as long as “reasonably necessary.”
“The decision of the Supreme Court today rejects one of the farther reaching assertions of administrative power by the Executive Branch,” said Deborah Pearlstein, who directs the U.S. Law and Security Program at Human Rights First. “The ruling also honors the United States’ commitments under international law.” Human Rights First, along with other leading human rights organizations, submitted a ‘friend of the court’ brief in the case, arguing that the indefinite detention of non-citizens violated the United States’ obligations under various international treaties to be free from arbitrary and indefinite detention.
The ruling—a consolidation of two separate cases--involved two Cubans, Mr. Benitez and Mr. Martinez, who had entered the United States in 1980 during the Mariel boat lift. Both Mr. Benitez and Mr. Martinez, since their arrival in the United States, had been convicted of a number of crimes and were found removable by immigration authorities. Cuba has been unwilling to take them back, and U.S. authorities have continued to keep them in detention. As of last year, it is estimated that approximately 2,000 other immigrants are being held indefinitely by the United States since no other countries will accept them.
