Breyer, J., dissenting
Government must be enforced at least in contexts where “other part[s]” of the relevant statutes indicate that the time limit must be enforced, Montalvo-Murillo, supra, at 717; see also Barnhart, supra, at 161, 163; Dolan v. United States, 560 U. S. 605, 613 (2010); where the statute “ ‘specif[ies] a consequence for noncompliance’ ” with the time limit, Barnhart, supra, at 159 (quoting United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property, 510 U. S. 43, 63 (1993)); or where the harms caused by the Government’s delay are likely to be serious, see Dolan, supra, at 615–616; Montalvo-Murillo, supra, at 719–720.
Here, the special transition statute Congress enacted alongside subsection (c) makes clear that Congress expected that the mandate that an alien be detained “when… released” would be enforceable. Congress neither wished for nor expected the Secretary to detain aliens more than a year after their release from criminal custody. IIRIRA, §303(b)(2), 110 Stat. 3009–586. Why else would Congress have enacted a statute permitting the Government, due to “insufficient detention space and Immigration and Naturalization Service personnel,” to delay implementation of the entirety of subsection (c) for one year? Ibid. As I have said, had Congress read the phrase “when the alien is released” as the plurality now reads it, the Government could have delayed implementation for as long as it liked without the need for any transition statute. Supra, at 10. The transition statute demonstrates that Congress viewed the phrase “when the alien is released” as imposing a deadline. Based on the transition statute, the Secretary may not delay detention under subsection (c) for longer than one year.
Moreover, the statute does “ ‘specify a consequence’ ” for the Secretary’s failure to detain an alien “when the alien is released.” Barnhart, supra, at 159 (quoting James Daniel Good, supra, at 63). In that case, subsection (c) will not apply, and the Secretary must fall back on subsection (a),
