Immigration & Naturalization Service v. National Center for Immigrants' Rights, Inc.

This case presents a narrow question of statutory construction. Section 242(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) authorizes the Attorney General to arrest excludable aliens and, pending a determination of their deportability, either to hold them in custody or to release them on bond “containing such conditions as the Attorney General may prescribe.” 66 Stat. 208, as amended, 8 U. S. C. § 1252(a)(1). We granted the Government's petition for cer-tiorari to decide "[w]hether th[at] provision prohibits promulgation of a rule generally requiring that release bonds contain a condition…