Earlier today, President Obama announced he is sending a plan to Congress to close Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. His plan includes not only shutting down the prison, where the worst of the world's terrorists are housed, but transfers many of the remaining detainees to the United States.
“For many years it’s been clear that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our national security—it undermines it,” President Obama said. “This is not just my opinion, this is the opinion of experts, and those in our military.”
There's just one major problem: bringing GITMO detainees to the United States is banned under federal law. In fact, just two months ago Democrats and Republicans in Congress bolstered the law.
"After seven years, President Obama has yet to convince the American people that moving Guantanamo terrorists to our homeland is smart or safe. And he doesn’t seem interested in continuing to try. His proposal fails to provide critical details required by law, including the exact cost and location of an alternate detention facility. Congress has left no room for confusion," House Speaker Paul Ryan released in a statement. "It is against the law—and it will stay against the law—to transfer terrorist detainees to American soil. We will not jeopardize our national security over a campaign promise.”
President Obama's Guantanamo Bay proposal fails to provide taxpayers with critical details required by law, including...
Posted by Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday, February 23, 2016
During a press conference earlier today in response to Obama's plan, Ryan also warned about Obama issuing orders to the military to transfer detainees and requiring they do so knowing they'll be breaking the law.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley also opposes the move.
“The facility at Guantanamo Bay houses terrorists and enemy combatants, many of whom are the ‘worst of the worst.’ Even the Obama administration has determined that some of these individuals are too dangerous for release anywhere in the world. The President’s proposal to close Gitmo would involve moving these enemies of the United States to prisons in communities across our country," Grassley released in a statement. "Some could be granted trials in our criminal justice system, which would afford them additional constitutional rights that are unavailable to terrorists at Guantanamo. This is a dangerous, unnecessary and misguided plan that is contrary to a law the President himself signed, as the President’s own Attorney General and Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have acknowledged. And perhaps most importantly, it’s a slap in the face to the families of victims lost to terrorist attacks."
It should be noted that a majority of Americans oppose closing GITMO.