The act allowed the u. s. government to hunt down, detain, and prosecute alleged terrorists.

It was the Patriot Act.  This was the result of the attacks on September 11, 2001 that led to the destruction of the World Trade Center.  It called for more aggressive actions to fight terrorism. Among them were the arrest, detention and trial of terrorists.  It also called for removing barriers to data gathering and terrorist investigation.  Opponents criticized because of its treatment of detainees and the extreme measures taken against terrorism.

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