338
Stevens, J., dissenting
General's detention of four alien Communists, the Court was careful to note that the Attorney General had not merely relied on a presumption that alien Communists posed a risk to the United States, and that therefore they should be detained, but that the detention order was grounded in "evidence of membership plus personal activity in supporting and extending the Party's philosophy concerning violence," 342 U. S., at 541 (emphasis added). In fact, the Court expressly noted that "[t]here is no evidence or contention that all persons arrested as deportable under the . . . Internal Security Act for Communist membership are denied bail," and that bail is allowed "in the large majority of cases." Id., at 541-542.
By the same reasoning, the Attorney General is not authorized, in my view, to rely on a presumption regarding the suitability of potential custodians as a substitute for determining whether there is, in fact, any reason that a particular juvenile should be detained. Just as a "purpose to injure could not be imputed generally to all aliens," id., at 538, the unsuitability of certain unrelated adults cannot be imputed generally to all adults so as to lengthen the detention to which these children are subjected. The particular circumstances facing these juveniles are too diverse, and the right to be free from government detention too precious, to permit the INS to base the crucial determinations regarding detention upon a mere presumption regarding "appropriate custodians," ante, at 310. I do not believe that Congress intended to authorize such a policy.26
26 Neither NCIR, 502 U. S. 183 (1991), nor Heckler v. Campbell, 461 U. S. 458, 467 (1983), upon which the majority relies for the proposition that the INS can rely on "reasonable presumptions" and "generic rules," ante, at 313, are to the contrary. The Court mentioned the word "presumption" in a footnote in the NCIR case, 502 U. S., at 196, n. 11, merely in noting that the regulation at issue—a broad rule requiring that all release bonds contain a condition forbidding unauthorized employment—seemed to presume that undocumented aliens taken into INS custody were not, in fact, author-
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