Republican lawmakers have reacted furiously to news that US President Barack Obama plans to transfer a number of Guantanamo Bay detainees to a rural Illinois prison.
The administration announced the decision on Tuesday in a letter that said the federal government would acquire the Thomson Correctional Center from the US state of Illinois.
The move comes as Obama tries to make good on a promise to shutter the controversial detention camp for terror suspects, but it outraged Republican lawmakers.
PHOTO: AFP
“By moving known terrorists to American soil, the Obama administration is putting international public relations ahead of public safety,” Indiana Representative Mike Pence said.
“How does closing Guantanamo Bay make us safer? How does moving over 70 known terrorists, to a facility in my beloved heartland of this country, make our families more safe? And how does it even make sense?” he asked.
Republican House minority leader John Boehner said he would “not vote to spend one dime to move those prisoners to the United States.”
Even Republican senators who have supported closing the facility located on a US naval base on Cuba expressed reservations.
“I fear the administration has lost its bearings in an effort to close Guantanamo as quickly as possible,” South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said in a statement.
The White House seemed aware of the likely reaction to its decision on Tuesday and the letter signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates emphasized that detainees would only be brought to the US for detention.
”The president has no intention of releasing any detainees in the United States,” they said, adding that such a move is barred under current US legislation.
It was not immediately clear how many of the 210 men still held at Guantanamo would be transferred to the Thomson jail in Carroll County, Illinois, where they will be kept in a separate part of the prison from other prisoners.
Gates has said 116 Guantanamo detainees will be freed or extradited to their countries of origin.
That leaves less than 100 men, including some who will be tried before military or civilian courts, and others who will be detained indefinitely because they are considered too dangerous to release but cannot be tried because evidence against them is scant or tainted.
A senior administration official said prisoners facing military trials will be prosecuted at the Thomson jail. So far, five detainees are facing charges before military tribunals.
Obama has acknowledged that a self-imposed Jan. 22 deadline to close Guantanamo is likely to be missed.
Residents of the tiny Illinois town where the detainees could be moved welcomed the controversial plan, however, some calling it a “wonderful, wonderful thing.”
“This is the best thing that could have happened to us,” said Julie Hansen, president of the Thomson chamber of commerce.
“I am ecstatic and I hope nothing happens that will keep this from happening in our community,” he said.
The Thomson Correctional Center, located across the Mississippi River from Iowa, has remained virtually empty since it was opened eight years ago due to state budgetary constraints.
The rural county is desperate for the jobs the prison could bring. Hansen said people are excited about the possibility of new families moving into the town of 550 and new businesses opening up to serve the prison’s needs.
“I have a vision that this could be just a wonderful, wonderful thing for Carroll County,” Hansen said.
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