Benitez v. Mata
During the Mariel boat-lift of 1980, Fidel Castro let approximately 125,000 Cubans flee to the United States, among them Daniel Benitez. Although Benitez was detained at the border, he was allowed to physically enter the country. Benitez committed armed robbery, grand theft, and other crimes in Florida, which made him ineligible for legal residency in the United States. In 2001, Benitez was released into INS custody, and the INS determined that his release was against the public interest. Therefore, the INS ordered him detained until he could be deported to Cuba, a possibility that is not reasonably foreseeable. Benitez challenged the constitutionality of his indefinite detention based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis, that the government cannot detain legal aliens for more than six months. The Eleventh Circuit held that this rule does not apply to illegal aliens such as Benitez.
Questions Presented:
1. Whether the six-month rule of Zadvydas applies to an alien who was apprehended at the border of the United States and ordered excluded from the United States.
2. If not, whether petitioner's release from immigration detention is otherwise required under 8 U.S.C. ยง1231(a)(6) and the canon of constitutional avoidance, despite a recent determination by
immigration officials that petitioner should not be released.
