Cite as: 507 U. S. 292 (1993)
Stevens, J., dissenting
because INS has a 'blanket' policy that requires detention without any factual showing that detention is necessary to ensure respondents' welfare. . . . That argument, however, represents nothing more than a policy disagreement, because it criticizes INS for failing to pursue a view of juvenile welfare that INS has not adopted, namely the view held by respondent: that it is better for alien juveniles to be released to unrelated adults than to be cared for in suitable, government-monitored juvenile-care facilities, except in those cases where the government has knowledge that the particular adult seeking custody is unfit. The policy adopted by INS, reflecting the traditional view of our polity that parents and guardians are the most reliable custodians for juveniles, is that it is inappropriate to release alien juveniles—whose troubled background and lack of familiarity with our society and culture, give them particularized needs not commonly shared by domestic juveniles—to adults who are not their parents or guardians." Id., at 4-5 (internal citations, emphasis, and quotation marks omitted).
Possibly because of the implausibility of the INS' claim that it has made a reasonable judgment that detention in government-controlled or government-sponsored facilities is "better" or more "appropriate" for these children than release to independent responsible adults, the Court reaches out to justify the INS policy on a ground not only not argued, but expressly disavowed by the INS, that is, the tug of "other concerns that compete for public funds and administrative attention," ante, at 305. I cannot share my colleagues' eagerness for that aggressive tack in a case involving a substantial deprivation of liberty. Instead, I will begin where the INS asks us to begin, with its assertion that its policy is justified by its interest in protecting the welfare of these children. As I will explain, the INS' decision to detain these juveniles despite the existence of responsible
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