In the United States , a similar practice began in the early 1980s with Haitians and Cubans detained at Guantanamo Bay , and other groups such as Chinese in jails and detention centres on the mainland . The practice was made mandatory by legislation passed in 1996 in response to the Oklahoma City bombing , and has come under criticism from organizations such as Amnesty International , Human Rights Watch , Human Rights First , all of whom have released major studies of the subject , and the ACLU As of 2010 , about 31,000 non-citizens were held in immigration detention on any given day , including children , in over 200 detention centres , jails , and prisons nationwide
Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
Immigration detention