In some cases, foreigners held at a nine-story prison in Brooklyn, New York, were asked by guards, "Are you OK?" If they answered yes, guards assumed they had waived their opportunity to contact a lawyer by phone, which they were allowed to do once each week. If phone calls were answered by voice mail or a busy signal, guards considered it the detainee's weekly call.

The inspector general's report found "significant problems" in the Bush administration's actions toward 762 foreigners held on immigration violations after September 11. Only one, Zacarias Moussaoui, has been charged with any terrorism-related crime; 505 have been deported.

"We make no apologies for finding every legal way possible to protect the American public from further terrorist attacks," Justice spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said. US laws were "scrupulously followed and respected," she said.

Under US law, the government has up to 90 days to deport or release detainees. But it can hold them much longer if they're connected to a terrorism or criminal investigation. Some of the Sept. 11 detainees were kept in custody up to eight months, although most of them were deported before the 90-day deadline.