One activist said local jails were so overcrowded that the immigrants could be sent to Arizona, where they could face weeks or months in prisons awaiting hearings before immigration judges or deportation.
Nice to see that the US government is still zealously committed to fighting for the ideals of justice and liberty.
"All but 20 of the hundreds of Middle Eastern men detained this week in southern California after voluntarily presenting themselves to register under new anti-terrorism rules have been released, U.S. immigration officials said on Friday." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20021221/ts_nm/attack_immigration_dc_3
All these people - none of them US citizens, i.e. all of them guests in that country - voluntarily showed up to register. Those who had broken laws were arrested. Others were detained until they had been processed:
'"This registration period lasted for 30 days but the lion's share of the registrants showed up in the last eight hours," the INS official said. "It overwhelmed our system. Every one of the applicants had to be interviewed and had to have a background check. We had to insure that anybody we put back on the streets would not pose a threat."'