324
Stevens, J., dissenting
governing proposed contracts with private institutions that may assume physical (though not legal) custody of these minors, the INS stated that the duration of the confinement "is anticipated to be approximately thirty (30) days; however, due to the variables and uncertainties inherent in each case, [r]ecipients must design programs which are able to provide a combination of short term and long term care." Juvenile Care Agreement 178a. The INS rule itself imposes no time limit on the period of detention. The only limit is the statutory right to seek a writ of habeas corpus on the basis of a "conclusive showing" that the Attorney General is not processing the deportation proceeding "with such reasonable dispatch as may be warranted by the particular facts and circumstances in the case . . . ." 8 U. S. C. § 1252(a)(1). Because examples of protracted deportation proceedings are so common, the potential for a lengthy period of confinement is always present. The fact that an excessive delay may not "invariably ensue," ante, at 309, provides small comfort to the typical detainee.
I
The Court glosses over the history of this litigation, but that history speaks mountains about the bona fides of the Government's asserted justification for its regulation, and demonstrates the complete lack of support, in either evidence or experience, for the Government's contention that detaining alien juveniles when there are "other responsible parties" willing to assume care somehow protects the interests of these children.
The case was filed as a class action in response to a policy change adopted in 1984 by the Western Regional Office of the INS. Prior to that change, the relevant policy in the Western Region had conformed to the practice followed by the INS in the rest of the country, and also followed by federal magistrates throughout the country in the administration of § 504 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Preven-
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