The Office of the Inspector General criticized the Department of Justice this week with the release of a report describing the problems encountered by illegal immigrants after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The detailed report made fears into reality for some members of Congress and civil rights groups who worried about the extent of the post-Sept. 11 roundup and the individual rights that may have been trampled.

“While our review recognized the enormous challenges and difficult circumstances confronting the Department in responding to the terrorist attacks, we found significant problems in the way the detainees were handled,” said Inspector General Glenn Fine.

In the 11 months after the attacks, 762 aliens were detained in connection with various immigration offenses, including overstaying their visas and entering the country illegally. The inspector general examined the treatment of these detainees, including their processing, bond decisions related to them, the timing of their removal from the United States or their release from custody, their access to counsel, and the conditions of their confinement.

The report provides detailed accounts of how many immigrants were held without being charged for long periods of time, denied bond, prevented from obtaining counsel, and physically and verbally abused.

The main focus of the report was the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, NY, and at the Passaic County Jail (Passaic) in Patterson, New Jersey. These two facilities were chosen because they housed the majority of detainees and received most of the complaints of mistreatment.

According to the report, 84 inmates who were held in the Brooklyn detention center were subjected to highly restrictive, 23-hour “lockdown,” limited to one phone call a week, and were placed in leg irons and heavy chains any time they moved outside their cells.

The inspector concluded that F.B.I. officials, particularly in New York City, “made little attempt to distinguish” between immigrants who had possible ties to terrorism and those swept up by chance in the investigation. The report also indicated that some lawyers for the Department raised concern over the legality of the tactics being used only to be overridden by senior officials. Also, the report offers the most detailed picture to date of who was held, the delays many faced in being charged or gaining access to a lawyer, and the abuse that some faced in jail.

The report showed that nearly three of every four jailed immigrants were from New York City or New Jersey, many were Pakistanis, and most were arrested within three months of Sept. 11.

Had it not been for the attacks, “most if not all” of the arrest would probably have never been pursued, the report said. Some illegal immigrants were picked up at random traffic stops, others because of anonymous tips that they were Muslims with erratic schedules, officials said.

The spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said, “We make no apologies for finding every legal way possible to protect the American public from further terrorist attacks.”

Prior to Sept. 11, the Immigration and Naturalization Service had 24 hours to decide about charging an illegal immigrant, but six days after the attacks, the Department of Justice gave itself an indefinite time period because of the “extraordinary circumstances.” The average wait for those housed in Brooklyn to be notified of charges against them was 15 days. Some detainees waited for over a month to find out their charges.

Jeanne Butterfield, Executive Director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), said, “The DOJ needs to stand up, explain what it did, and take responsibility. The agency’s actions threaten our fundamental Constitutional guarantees and protections that set our nation apart from others. Our government must not trample on the Constitution and on those basic rights and protections that make American democracy so unique.”

Attorney General John Ashcroft faced tough questions about the treatment of the detainees at a forum on Capitol Hill. He defended the department’s actions and said that any claims of abuse would be investigated.

Ashcroft also called on the committee to allow his department broader powers to fight terrorism by expanding the USA Patriot Act, which some have criticized as an assault on civil liberties. Ashcroft asked for new authority to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely before trials and to let him seek the death penalty or life imprisonment for any terrorist act which kills Americans. He also wanted to ensure that individuals who train with a terrorist organization can be more easily charged with a crime.

A summary of the report can be viewed on the DOJ website http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/0603/press.htm or the full report can be accessed in pdf format at http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/0603/full.pdf