Sale v. Haitian Centers Council, Inc.

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 *159We hold that neither § 243(h) nor Article 33 of the United Nations Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees3 applies to…