533US2 Unit: $U87 [10-21-02 18:35:10] PAGES PGT: OPIN Cite as: 533 U. S. 678 (2001) 719 Kennedy, J., dissenting U. S. C. § 1229a(c)(3)(A); see also Berenyi v. District Director, INS, 385 U. S. 630, 636 (1967) (“When the Government seeks to . . . deport a resident alien and send him from our shores, it carries the heavy burden of proving its case by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence” (internal quotation marks and footnotes omitted)). Aliens ordered removed pursuant to these procedures are given notice of their right to appeal the decision, 8 U. S. C. § 1229a(c)(4), may move the immigration judge to reconsider, § 1229a(c)(5), can seek discretionary cancellation of removal, § 1229b, and can obtain habeas review of the Attorney General’s decision not to consider waiver of deportation. See INS v. St. Cyr, ante, at 314. As a result, aliens like Zadvydas and Ma do not arrive at their removable status without thorough, substantial procedural safeguards. The majority likely is correct to say that the distinction between an alien who entered the United States, as these aliens did, and one who has not, “runs throughout immigration law.” Ante, at 693. The distinction is not so clear as it might seem, however, and I doubt it will suffice to confine the rationale adopted by the majority. The case which often comes to mind when one tests the distinction is Shaughnessy v. United States ex rel. Mezei, 345 U. S. 206 (1953), where the Court considered the situation of an alien denied entry and detained on Ellis Island. The detention had no foreseeable end, for though Mezei was inadmissible to the United States it seemed no other country would have him. Id., at 209. The case presented a line-drawing problem, asking whether the alien was in our country; or whether his situation was the same as if he were still on foreign shores; or whether he fell in a legal category somewhere in between, though if this were true, it still would not be clear how to resolve the case. The Court held the alien had no right to a hearing to secure his release. Id., at 212–213. (Approximately 17 months after this Court denied Mezei relief, the Attorney General released him on parole. It appears Mezei