Cite as: 538 U. S. 510 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
Zadvydas distinguished the statutory provision it was there considering from § 1226 on these very grounds, noting that "post-removal-period detention, unlike detention pending a determination of removability . . . , has no obvious termination point." Id., at 697 (emphasis added). Under §1226(c), not only does detention have a definite termination point, in the majority of cases it lasts for less than the 90 days we considered presumptively valid in Zadvydas.11 The
Executive Office for Immigration Review has calculated that, in 85% of the cases in which aliens are detained pursuant to § 1226(c), removal proceedings are completed in an average time of 47 days and a median of 30 days. Brief for Petitioners 39-40. In the remaining 15% of cases, in which the alien appeals the decision of the immigration judge to the Board of Immigration Appeals, appeal takes an average of four months, with a median time that is slightly shorter. Id., at 40.12
These statistics do not include the many cases in which removal proceedings are completed while the alien is still serving time for the underlying conviction. Id., at 40,
11 The dissent concedes that "[t]he scheme considered in Zadvydas did not provide review immediately . . . . [C]ustody review hearings usually occurred within three months of a transfer to a postorder detention unit." Post, at 555, n. 11 (opinion of Souter, J.). Yet, in discussing the present case, the dissent insists that "the due process requirement of an individualized finding of necessity applies to detention periods shorter than" respondent's. Post, at 568, n. 24 (citing Schall v. Martin, 467 U. S. 253, 270, 276-277 (1984), in which "the detainee was entitled to a hearing" when threatened with "a maximum detention period of 17 days"). The dissent makes no attempt to reconcile its suggestion that aliens are entitled to an immediate hearing with the holding in Zadvydas permitting aliens to be detained for several months prior to such a hearing.
12 The very limited time of the detention at stake under § 1226(c) is not missed by the dissent. See post, at 568 (opinion of Souter, J.) ("Successful challenges often require several months"); ibid. (considering "[t]he potential for several months [worth] of confinement"); but see post, at 549 ("potentially lengthy detention").
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