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Opinion of the Court
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. The President has directed the Coast Guard to intercept vessels illegally transporting passengers from Haiti to the United States and to return those passengers to Haiti without first determining whether they may qualify as refugees. The question presented in this case is whether such forced repatriation, "authorized to be undertaken only beyond the territorial sea of the United States," 1 violates § 243(h)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA or Act).2
M. Schneebaum, and Janelle M. Diller; for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights by Arthur C. Helton, William G. O'Neill, O. Thomas Johnson, Jr., Andrew I. Schoenholtz, and Carlos M. Vasquez; for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People et al. by Wade J. Henderson, Laurel Pyke Mason, and Luther Zeigler; for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees by Joseph R. Guerra, Julian Fleet, and Ralph G. Steinhardt; and for Senator Edward M. Kennedy et al. by Joshua R. Floum and Deborah E. Anker.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the Haitian Service Organizations et al. by Terry Helbush; and for Nicholas deB. Katzenbach et al. by Michael W. McConnell.
1 This language appears in both Executive Order No. 12324, 3 CFR 181 (1981-1983 Comp.), issued by President Reagan, and Executive Order No. 12807, 57 Fed. Reg. 21133 (1992), issued by President Bush.
2 Title 8 U. S. C. § 1253(h) (1988 ed. and Supp. IV), as amended by § 203(e) of the Refugee Act of 1980, Pub. L. 96-212, 94 Stat. 107. Section 243(h)(1) provides: "(h) Withholding of deportation or return. (1) The Attorney General shall not deport or return any alien (other than an alien described in section 1251(a)(4)(D) of this title) to a country if the Attorney General determines that such alien's life or freedom would be threatened in such country on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion."
Section 243(h)(2), 8 U. S. C. § 1253(h)(2), provides, in part: "(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any alien if the Attorney General determines that—
. . . . . "(D) there are reasonable grounds for regarding the alien as a danger to the security of the United States."
Before its amendment in 1965, § 243(h), 66 Stat. 214, read as follows: "The Attorney General is authorized to withhold deportation of any alien within the United States to any country in which in his opinion the alien
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