Rethinking Exclusion--The Rights of Cuban Refugees Facing Indefinite Detention in the United States

This Article will build upon the stable foundation presented in the arguments that challenged, the "Nishimura" maxim, and will discuss major flaws in the practice of indefinitely detaining excludable aliens in the context of the Cubans who have been detained in various parts of the United States since their arrival in 1980. First, the Article focuses on the practical merits of the use of indefinite detention as a means of immigration policy. The Article concludes that the practice, which is extremely expensive, does not appear to limit mass migrations, and offers, at best, only a few benefits. Second, the Article examines the relationship between the indefinite detention of aliens by the United States and the statutory scheme of United States immigration laws, and it concludes that indefinite detention has no place within the United States scheme.

The Article then explores the relationship between the indefinite detention of aliens and international law and finds that indefinite detention violates numerous international legal principles. Last, the Article proposes solutions to the perplexing dilemma of the indefinite detention of Cubans in the United States.