Quote

Maybe... there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for unlawfully detaining 120 people. Maybe they just got carried away with last year's idea of pre-emptive strikes and thought, 'Let's not wait for an actual crime to occur. Let's get the innocent.

When a law enforcement officer apprehends an illegal immigrant, it makes no sense to simply release that individual who has been breaking our laws with no threat of sanction or penalty.

Yes, I was detained for eight days in Waziristan in 1996. It was against my will, and my passport and money were taken from me. I was not mistreated or harmed, but I was also not allowed to leave.

There are good reasons for being in jail - for protesting.

Arresting and detaining these dangerous people can make sense, at least until a final decision is reached on their deportation. However, such detention must always be subject to time limits and court review.

I think a lot of people get in trouble with the law.

The CIA has acknowledged that it has detained about 100 terrorists since 9/11, and about a third of them have been subjected to what the CIA refers to as 'enhanced interrogation tactics,' and only a small proportion of those have in fact been subjected to the most serious types of enhanced procedures.

And so border security is not simply preventing people from getting in, but very often preventing somebody from leaving for the wrong reasons.

My first civil disobedience arrest for social justice was in 1986 for protesting the SDI.