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Opinion of the Court
able adult relative or legal guardian? Is the alien's case so exceptional as to require consideration of release to someone else? The particularization and individuation need go no further than this.9
Finally, respondents claim that the regulation is an abuse of discretion because it permits the INS, once having determined that an alien juvenile lacks an available relative or legal guardian, to hold the juvenile in detention indefinitely. That is not so. The period of custody is inherently limited by the pending deportation hearing, which must be concluded with "reasonable dispatch" to avoid habeas corpus. 8 U. S. C. § 1252(a)(1); cf. United States v. Salerno, 481 U. S., at 747 (noting time limits placed on pretrial detention by the Speedy Trial Act). It is expected that alien juveniles will remain in INS custody an average of only 30 days. See Juvenile Care Agreement 178a. There is no evidence that alien juveniles are being held for undue periods pursuant to regulation 242.24, or that habeas corpus is insufficient to remedy particular abuses.10 And the reasonableness of the
9 The dissent would mandate fully individualized custody determinations for two reasons. First, because it reads Carlson v. Landon, supra, as holding that the Attorney General may not employ "mere presumptions" in exercising his discretion. Post, at 337. But it was only the dissenters in Carlson who took such a restrictive view. See 342 U. S., at 558-559, 563-564, 568 (Frankfurter, J., dissenting). Second, because it believes that § 1252(a) must be interpreted to require individualized hearings in order to avoid " 'constitutional doubts.' " Post, at 334 (quoting United States v. Witkovich, 353 U. S. 194, 199 (1957)); see post, at 339-340. The "constitutional doubts" argument has been the last refuge of many an interpretive lost cause. Statutes should be interpreted to avoid serious constitutional doubts, Witkovich, supra, at 202, not to eliminate all possible contentions that the statute might be unconstitutional. We entertain no serious doubt that the Constitution does not require any more individuation than the regulation provides, see supra, at 303-305, 309, and thus find no need to supplement the text of § 1252(a).
10 The dissent's citation of a single deposition from 1986, post, at 323, and n. 6, is hardly proof that "excessive delay" will result in the "typical" case, post, at 324, under regulation 242.24, which was not promulgated until mid-1988.
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