But he says there is no ability to do that now because the US doesn’t have a biometric exit-entry system to know when someone has overstayed their work visa.
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McConnell argued that it is an “ill-considered crusade to close the security detention facility at Guantanamo”.
“Bringing terrorists – like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind responsible for planning the horrific deaths of almost 3,000 Americans – onto USA soil and to outside countries can only be characterized as unsafe and irresponsible at best”, Buchanan said in a release.
Oman has taken 20 detainees who are banned from going back to their home countries, more than any other of the 25 countries that have taken in detainees.
Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said they oppose President Barack Obama’s plan to shut down the detention facility and relocate the remaining prisoners to the mainland United States. Obama noted that Gitmo “undermines” American national security, as reported by the BCC on February 23.
The plan to close the facility by the end of this year was expected to be sent to Capitol Hill as early as Tuesday – the deadline for submission of the effort to meet one of President Barack Obama’s 2008 pledges.
“Whatever the president proposes, even if it doesn’t come to fruition, the administration is changing the goal posts on this issue”, she said.
However, many Republicans – and some Democrats – have always been wary of closing the facility and having to transfer remaining inmates.
Obama said he expects that process to “be a challenge”.
According to the DoD statement, recurring costs of running the facility would be between $65 million and $85 million a year higher than the cost of keeping the detainees at a US facility. The remainder of the 91 detainees at the site would be transferred to other countries.
A small number – those deemed too risky to release but too hard to prosecute – would be held in the United States.
It would cost $290 million to $475 million for the Department of Defense to renovate an existing state or federal prison, which would be dedicated to holding only Defense detainees, the official said.
Among the most contentious aspects of his proposal is the transfer of some detainees to USA soil.
Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who chairs the Armed Services Committee, blasted the administration’s plan as flimsy.
“I give him credit for that”, Obama said, calling it “an honest assessment on his part on his part of what needed to happen”. “If they don’t, I think you’ll probably see the president taking some more bold action”.
There are now 35 detainees eligible for transfer, and the plan calls for an accelerated review of remaining detainees to determine whether they pose a threat – and, if not, if they should be eligible for transfer.
“My Republican colleagues should drop their opposition to every proposal put forward by President Obama and listen to America’s military and national security leaders”, Durbin wrote.
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“It’s against the law now to establish another detention facility”, said Defense Secretary Ash Carter last month.
