11.   In the second case, the court said the government could not detain immigrants indefinitely even if they had committed crimes.

12.   INS can use criminal convictions as grounds for detaining immigrants, sometimes indefinitely, or deporting them.

13.   It also would allow immigrants to be detained for a week without charges being filed if they are suspected of involvement in terrorist activity.

14.   Many perhaps accept the extraordinary new Justice Department rules that let authorities detain immigrants suspected of ties to terrorists without probable cause or time limits.

15.   Melero said immigrants are detained from three to six months, but more difficult cases of asylum or continuing appeals can take up to two years.

16.   Officials said that cartels sometimes demanded fees along the route at various stops, such as in the Bahamas, where the immigrants were detained in houses.

17.   Once an immigrant is detained by the INS, immigration advocates say, they are treated much like ordinary convicts.

18.   Patrols made up of state law enforcement officers, civil protection officials and federal immigration agents will not be empowered to detain immigrants headed across the desert.

19.   So far, the illegal immigrants have been detained for more than two months.

20.   Sometimes, they detain illegal immigrants.