We now have the precedent of secret detention that might make banana republics envious

That's not all. We now have the precedent of secret detention that might make banana republics envious. Some 5.000 young men, mostly students, have been “interviewed” by the FBI for no other reason than they may not be citizens or they are of Middle Eastern origin. Another 1.200 people were detained, and held indefinitely and secretly, most for no reason other than minor immigration violations that would have been ignored in the past. Of the immigration violations that would have been ignored in the past. Of the immigration and Naturalization Service detainees , 11 percent were imprisioned more than six months before being released or deported. About half were imprisoned for more than three months.
In a highly critical report, the Justice Department's own inspector general found that while imprisioned at the federal detention in Brooklyn, detainees feced “a pattern of physical and verbal abuse” as well as “unduly harsh” detention policies, including 23-hours-per-day lockdown, 24-hours-per-day cell lighting, a communications blackout, and excessive handcuffing, leg irons and heavy chains. The report also criticized the FBI for making “little attempt to distinguish” between immigrants who had possible ties to terrorism and the vast majority who did not, including many swept up by chance.
It is un-American to incarcerate a large group of people when there is no credible reason to think they are dangerous.
Even worse, some detainees, have been subjected to secret deportation proceedings. Soon after the September 11 attacks, immigration courts from coast to coast began conducting scores of hearing in secret, with cout officials, forbidden even to confirm that the cases existed.
From the book 'Dude,Where's My Country' by Michael Moore