WashPost

Ashcroft: 75 Immigrants Now Detained Limits on Time Held Without Being Charged Relaxed

By Charles Babington washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Tuesday, September 18, 2001; 4:31 PM

The Justice Department has detained 75 immigrants for questioning in last week's terrorist attacks, and it has expanded the amount of time it can hold alleged immigration violators without charging them, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today.

Ashcroft also confirmed that the FBI is investigating whether would-be hijackers intended to comandeer other planes last Tuesday, when four hijackings and crashes killed more than 5,000 people in three states. Among the 75 people being held -- which is 26 more than announced yesterday -- are two men who reportedly had boarded a Texas-bound jetliner in Newark, N.J., and later were found with large amounts of cash and box-cutter blades. Similar blades were used in last week's four deadly hijackings.

As President Bush and many other Americans paused solemnly to note the one-week passage of the nation's worst terrorist attack, thousands of federal agents continued to track down immigrants -- mostly from the Middle East -- wanted for questioning.

At a news conference, Ashcroft said federal agents have considerable new leeway in holding persons for possible immigration violations without charging them with a crime, especially in "extraordinary circumstances."

Previous guidelines, Ashcroft said, "allowed the Immigration and Naturalization Service only 24 hours in which to decide whether to charge an alien that had been taken into custody because of a violation. The revision announced last night expands the 24-hour time period to 48 hours, or to an additional reasonable time if necessary under an emergency or in other extraordinary circumstances."

As a practical matter, INS officials already were able to hold immigration violators for long periods. But Ashcroft's comments seemed to signal an effort to make the procedure formal.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001