Source: The South Florida Sun-Sentinel

On July 8, 2002 The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that "Since Sept. 11, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has rounded up hundreds of Muslims, including an estimated dozens in South Florida, as part of far-reaching terror investigations... Some of those detained were held for months before their release or deportation. None is known to have been charged with any terror-related activity... According to Amnesty International, which sued the government and received a list of 718 detainees in January, most were of Arab or South Asian origin and had been picked up for minor immigration violations. According to immigration lawyers, most of the charges would not have led to detention before Sept. 11... Lawyers and relatives say the detentions continue, although the pace has slowed... The ACLU has worked on behalf of eight detainees held for months, even after the FBI had cleared them and their immigration cases had terminated... [But] because of the extra scrutiny attorneys believe the INS is applying to Muslim and Arab detainees, lawyers are often reluctant to take on more cases."