“The terrorists at Guantanamo Bay are where they should remain”
Republican senators are already gearing up to fight President Obama’s plan to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, which is expected to be submitted to Congress on Tuesday.
GOP senators whose states the administration is eyeing as possible locations to send detainees to voiced their opposition on Monday, in advance of the release.
Congress has banned the transfer of any detainees to U.S. soil and enacted restrictions on any transfers from the prison.
However, Senate Armed Services Chairman [score]John McCain[/score] (R-Ariz.) and other lawmakers have said they would consider allowing detainees in the U.S. if the administration submits a plan they approve of.
But any plan will face stiff opposition from other quarters on Capitol Hill. Roberts is a staunch opponent of allowing detainees to come to the U.S., and has placed a hold on the president’s nominee for Army secretary until he is assured none will be placed at the barracks at Fort Leavenworth.
He, Scott and Gardner say they are concerned with the 30 percent recidivism rate among detainees of those who have been confirmed or suspected to have returned to the fight.
They also say it will cost “hundreds of millions of dollars” to construct a new facility, and that any domestic facility “would place a bullseye for acts of terror on an American community.”
“With ever-growing threats abroad and our increased efforts to combat ISIS, we need a place to house these terrorists, and that place is not in our communities, nor back on the battlefield,” they said.
Source: GOP senators vow to fight Obama’s Gitmo closure plan | TheHill
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