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Title 8 — Aliens and NationalityRelease 119-73

§1226a Mandatory detention of suspected terrorists; habeas corpus; judicial review

Title 8 › Chapter CHAPTER 12— - IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - IMMIGRATION › Part Part IV— - Inspection, Apprehension, Examination, Exclusion, and Removal › § 1226a

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Attorney General must detain any noncitizen the Attorney General has officially marked as a national security risk. The Attorney General can mark someone if there are reasonable grounds to think they fall into certain terrorism-related categories in immigration law or if they do other things that threaten national security. Only the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General can make that mark, and the Deputy cannot pass the job on to anyone else. After detention starts, the government must begin removal proceedings or bring criminal charges within 7 days or else release the person. Detention stays in place until the person is removed, the Attorney General decides they are no longer a risk, or a final decision finds they cannot be removed. If removal is unlikely, the person may be kept in six-month extensions only if releasing them would threaten national security or public safety. The Attorney General must review the decision every 6 months and can free the person with conditions. The detained person can ask for reconsideration every 6 months and send evidence. Challenges to these detentions can only be made through habeas corpus petitions. Those petitions may be filed only in the Supreme Court, with a Supreme Court justice, with a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, or in a federal district court. Normal federal habeas rules apply. Appeals from district or circuit judges go only to the D.C. Circuit, and the decisions of the Supreme Court and the D.C. Circuit control how these cases are decided. These rules do not apply to other parts of the same chapter.

Full Legal Text

Title 8, §1226a

Aliens and Nationality — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)The Attorney General shall take into custody any alien who is certified under paragraph (3).
(2)Except as provided in paragraphs (5) and (6), the Attorney General shall maintain custody of such an alien until the alien is removed from the United States. Except as provided in paragraph (6), such custody shall be maintained irrespective of any relief from removal for which the alien may be eligible, or any relief from removal granted the alien, until the Attorney General determines that the alien is no longer an alien who may be certified under paragraph (3). If the alien is finally determined not to be removable, detention pursuant to this subsection shall terminate.
(3)The Attorney General may certify an alien under this paragraph if the Attorney General has reasonable grounds to believe that the alien—
(A)is described in section 1182(a)(3)(A)(i), 1182(a)(3)(A)(iii), 1182(a)(3)(B), 1227(a)(4)(A)(i), 1227(a)(4)(A)(iii), or 1227(a)(4)(B) of this title; or
(B)is engaged in any other activity that endangers the national security of the United States.
(4)The Attorney General may delegate the authority provided under paragraph (3) only to the Deputy Attorney General. The Deputy Attorney General may not delegate such authority.
(5)The Attorney General shall place an alien detained under paragraph (1) in removal proceedings, or shall charge the alien with a criminal offense, not later than 7 days after the commencement of such detention. If the requirement of the preceding sentence is not satisfied, the Attorney General shall release the alien.
(6)An alien detained solely under paragraph (1) who has not been removed under section 1231(a)(1)(A) of this title, and whose removal is unlikely in the reasonably foreseeable future, may be detained for additional periods of up to six months only if the release of the alien will threaten the national security of the United States or the safety of the community or any person.
(7)The Attorney General shall review the certification made under paragraph (3) every 6 months. If the Attorney General determines, in the Attorney General’s discretion, that the certification should be revoked, the alien may be released on such conditions as the Attorney General deems appropriate, unless such release is otherwise prohibited by law. The alien may request each 6 months in writing that the Attorney General reconsider the certification and may submit documents or other evidence in support of that request.
(b)(1)Judicial review of any action or decision relating to this section (including judicial review of the merits of a determination made under subsection (a)(3) or (a)(6)) is available exclusively in habeas corpus proceedings consistent with this subsection. Except as provided in the preceding sentence, no court shall have jurisdiction to review, by habeas corpus petition or otherwise, any such action or decision.
(2)(A)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including section 2241(a) of title 28, habeas corpus proceedings described in paragraph (1) may be initiated only by an application filed with—
(i)the Supreme Court;
(ii)any justice of the Supreme Court;
(iii)any circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; or
(iv)any district court otherwise having jurisdiction to entertain it.
(B)section 2241(b) of title 28 shall apply to an application for a writ of habeas corpus described in subparagraph (A).
(3)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including section 2253 of title 28, in habeas corpus proceedings described in paragraph (1) before a circuit or district judge, the final order shall be subject to review, on appeal, by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. There shall be no right of appeal in such proceedings to any other circuit court of appeals.
(4)The law applied by the Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit shall be regarded as the rule of decision in habeas corpus proceedings described in paragraph (1).
(c)The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to any other provision of this chapter.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (c), was in the original, “this Act”, meaning act June 27, 1952, ch. 477, 66 Stat. 163, known as the Immigration and Nationality Act, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1101 of this title and Tables.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Abolition of Immigration and Naturalization Service and

Transfer of Functions

For abolition of Immigration and Naturalization Service,

Transfer of Functions

, and treatment of related references, see note set out under section 1551 of this title. Reports Pub. L. 107–56, title IV, § 412(c), Oct. 26, 2001, 115 Stat. 352, provided that: “Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 26, 2001], and every 6 months thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit a report to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, with respect to the reporting period, on— “(1) the number of aliens certified under section 236A(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act [8 U.S.C. 1226a(a)(3)], as added by subsection (a); “(2) the grounds for such certifications; “(3) the nationalities of the aliens so certified; “(4) the length of the detention for each alien so certified; and “(5) the number of aliens so certified who—“(A) were granted any form of relief from removal; “(B) were removed; “(C) the Attorney General has determined are no longer aliens who may be so certified; or “(D) were released from detention.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

8 U.S.C. § 1226a

Title 8 — Aliens and Nationality

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73