8 U.S.C. § 1231 — Detention and removal of aliens ordered removed

(a) Detention, release, and removal. (1)(A) Unless this section provides otherwise, the Attorney General^* must remove an ordered alien^* within 90 days, called the “removal period.” (B) The period starts on the latest of: (i) when the order becomes administratively final; (ii) when a court’s final order is issued if judicial review included a stay; or (iii) when the alien is released from nonimmigration detention or confinement. (C) The period may extend, and detention may continue, if the alien does not timely and in good faith seek travel or other departure documents, or conspires or acts to prevent removal. (2)(A) During the period the Attorney General must detain the alien and may never release an alien found inadmissible under § 1182(a)(2) or § 1182(a)(3)(B), or deportable under § 1227(a)(2) or § 1227(a)(4)(B). (B) A State^* attorney general or authorized officer may sue the Secretary of Homeland Security for injunctive relief if an alleged violation harms the State or its residents; the court must expedite the case. Harm includes financial harm over $100. (3) If the alien remains after 90 days, the alien is supervised under regulations requiring periodic identification appearances, any necessary medical or psychiatric examination at United States expense, sworn information about nationality, circumstances, habits, associations, activities, and other matters the Attorney General considers appropriate, and compliance with reasonable written conduct restrictions. (4)(A) Except as provided in 42 U.S.C. § 259(a) and paragraph (2), the Attorney General generally may not remove an imprisoned alien until release; parole, supervised release, probation, or possible arrest or reimprisonment does not defer removal. (B) Before the sentence is complete, the Attorney General may remove an alien under the applicable procedures in either of these situations: (i) if the alien is in the Attorney General’s custody, the alien is confined under a final conviction for a nonviolent offense other than an offense related to smuggling or harboring aliens or an offense described in § 1101(a)(43)(B), (C), (E), (I), or (L), and the Attorney General decides that removal is appropriate and in the best interest of the United States; or (ii) if the alien is in the custody of a State or political subdivision, the official responsible for the alien’s incarceration decides that the alien is confined under a final conviction for a nonviolent offense other than an offense described in § 1101(a)(43)(C) or (E), decides that removal is appropriate and in the best interest of the State, and submits a written request to the Attorney General for the alien’s removal. (C) Such an alien must be told the reentry penalties, especially the expanded penalties for (B) removal. (D) No claim may compel an official to release, remove, or consider releasing or removing an alien under this paragraph. (5) If the Attorney General finds that an alien illegally reentered after removal or voluntary departure under a removal order, the old order is reinstated from its original date, cannot be reopened or reviewed, and the alien cannot seek relief under this chapter; the alien must be removed under that order. (6) An alien ordered removed who is inadmissible under § 1182, removable under § 1227(a)(1)(C), (2), or (4), or whom the Attorney General finds a community risk or unlikely to comply may be detained beyond the removal period and, if released, supervised under (3). (7) An ordered alien cannot receive work authorization unless the Attorney General specifically finds that all designated countries refuse the alien or removal is otherwise impracticable or against the public interest.

(b) Removal countries. (1) An arriving alien whose § 1229a case began on arrival is removed to the country where the alien boarded the arriving vessel or aircraft, subject to (3). If boarding occurred in contiguous foreign territory or an adjacent island where the alien is not a native, citizen, subject, national, or resident, removal is to the country where the transporting vessel was boarded. If that government will not accept the alien, the Attorney General may direct removal to the alien’s citizenship country, birth country, residence^* country, or another accepting country when earlier choices are impracticable, inadvisable, or impossible. (2)(A) Other ordered aliens may designate one country, and the Attorney General must use it, subject to this paragraph. (B) A foreign territory contiguous to the United States, an adjacent island, or an island adjacent to a foreign territory contiguous to the United States may be designated only if the alien is a native, citizen, subject, or national of, or has resided in, that territory or island. (C) The Attorney General may disregard a designation if it is not prompt, the government does not finally answer within 30 days (or is unwilling), or removal there is prejudicial to the United States. (D) The alien then goes to a citizenship, subject, or national country unless its government does not timely answer or will not accept. (E) If that fails, removal may be to the country from which the alien was admitted^*; the foreign port from which the alien left for the United States or contiguous territory; a country where the alien lived before entering the entry country; the birth country; the country having sovereignty over the birthplace at birth; the country containing it when removal is ordered; or another accepting country if earlier choices are impracticable, inadvisable, or impossible. (F) During war, if ordinary removal is impracticable, inadvisable, inconvenient, or impossible, the Attorney General may use a country hosting the government in exile of the alien’s citizenship or subject country if it permits entry, or a nearby country or subdivision, or another country with that government’s consent when its recognized government is not in exile. (3)(A) Despite (1) and (2), the Attorney General may not remove an alien to a country where the alien’s life or freedom would be threatened because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. (B) This does not protect an alien deportable under § 1227(a)(4)(D), or one the Attorney General finds persecuted others for a listed reason, is a danger after conviction of a particularly serious crime, seriously likely committed a serious nonpolitical crime abroad before arrival, or is reasonably believed a danger to United States security. An aggravated felony^* conviction or convictions with at least five years’ total imprisonment counts as a particularly serious crime, though the Attorney General may so find with a shorter sentence. A person described in § 1227(a)(4)(B) counts as a security danger. (C) The fact finder applies the burden and credibility rules in § 1158(b)(1)(B)(ii) and (iii).

(c) Arriving aliens. (1) An arriving alien ordered removed without a § 1225(b)(1) or (c) hearing, or in § 1229a proceedings begun on arrival, must immediately be removed on the arriving owner’s vessel or aircraft unless removal there is impracticable within a reasonable time, or the alien is a stowaway ordered removed under § 1225(a)(1) who requested asylum whose application is undecided or denied without exhausted appeals. (2)(A) The Attorney General may stay removal if immediate removal is not practicable or proper, or the alien is needed as a witness in a United States or State prosecution. (B) During witness detention, the Attorney General may pay maintenance and a $1-per-day witness fee from the named appropriation. (C) The alien may be released on at least a $500 bond with approved security, conditions to appear as witness and for removal, and other prescribed conditions. (3)(A) Except under (B) and (d), the arriving owner pays detention and maintenance costs while the alien is detained under (d)(1), and for a stowaway during the listed (d)(2) periods, including a reasonable document-arrangement period and up to 15 non-weekend, non-holiday days beginning on the earlier of 72 hours after initial inspection presentation or a credible-fear determination. (B) This payment rule does not apply to a crewmember; an immigrant^*-visa holder; a timely applicant with a nonimmigrant visa or admission^* document; a timely reentry-permit applicant; a late applicant when the owner proves reasonable care could not reveal the inadmissibility condition; or a person claiming United States nationality with a United States passport^*.

(d) Transportation providers. (1) An owner, agent, master, commanding officer, person in charge, purser, or consignee bringing a non-crewmember alien must receive the alien back on the same or another vessel or aircraft of the same interests and take the alien to the ordered country. (2) With a stowaway, the listed provider must detain the person aboard or where the Attorney General designates until inspection; may not allow landing except temporarily under regulations for medical treatment, Attorney General detention, or departure/removal; and must remove the stowaway when an immigration officer orders it. A timely request for another vessel or aircraft must be granted if travel documents are obtained and removal will not be unreasonably delayed. (3) The listed provider for any vessel, aircraft, or transportation line must obey an Attorney General order to take aboard, safely guard, and transport an ordered alien to the specified destination.

(e) Removal expenses. (1) For a stowaway or an alien ordered removed without a § 1225(a)(1) or (c) hearing or in arrival-started § 1229a proceedings, the arriving owner pays transportation. If another vessel or aircraft is used, the Attorney General may pay from the named appropriation and recover the cost civilly from the arriving owner, agent, or consignee. (2) For an admitted or landed alien, the enforcement appropriation pays removal to the removal port. (3)(A) It also pays removal from that port unless (B) applies. (B) The cost may be charged to the arriving carrier for an alien admitted other than as a lawful permanent^* resident and removed within five years for a preexisting admission ground, or a crewman^* temporarily landed under § 1282 and removed within five years. (C) It may pay removal of a voluntary-departure alien who cannot afford departure and whose removal the Attorney General finds in the United States’ best interest.

(f) Personal care. If the Attorney General believes a removed alien needs personal care because of a mental or physical condition, a suitable person may accompany and care for the alien through final destination. The cost is paid in the same way as the accompanied alien’s removal.

(g) Detention places. The Attorney General must arrange suitable detention places. If government facilities are unavailable and suitable facilities cannot be rented, the Attorney General may use the named appropriation, without regard to 41 U.S.C. § 6101, to acquire land and acquire, build, remodel, repair, and operate detention facilities, including needed officer living quarters. Before a new Service^* detention facility, the Commissioner^* must consider buying or leasing a suitable existing prison, jail, detention center, or comparable facility.

(h) No enforceable right. This section creates no substantive or procedural right or benefit enforceable against the United States, its agencies or officers, or anyone else.

(i) Incarceration. (1) When a State chief executive or appropriate political-subdivision official responsible for incarcerating an undocumented criminal alien makes a written request, the Attorney General must, as the Attorney General determines, either contract to compensate the State or subdivision for incarceration or take and incarcerate the alien federally. (2) Compensation equals the relevant State’s average prisoner-incarceration cost as determined by the Attorney General. (3) “Undocumented criminal alien” means an alien convicted of a felony or at least two misdemeanors who: (A) entered without inspection or at a place or time not designated by the Attorney General; (B) was in exclusion or deportation proceedings when State custody began; or (C) entered as a nonimmigrant and then failed to maintain that status or its § 1258-changed status, or failed to comply with its conditions. (4) The Attorney General must prioritize Federal incarceration of aggravated-felony offenders and ensure Federal facilities provide security appropriate to the convictions. (5) Authorized appropriations are $750,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, $850,000,000 for 2007, and $950,000,000 for each year 2008–2011. (6) Money distributed to a State or subdivision, including a municipality, may be used only for correctional purposes.