The potential release of Chinese Guantanamo Bay detainees into Northern Virginia drew protest Monday from Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who called on the Obama administration to declassify information on their capture and detention.
Wolf called the issue a “grave concern” in a speech on the House floor, responding to news reports that suggested the release of some of the 17 Uyghurs held since 2002 “could be imminent.”
Uyghurs are a repressed Muslim minority that live chiefly in a province of far western China but have communities across the world, including in the Virginia suburbs. The White House has signaled its intentions to free the men, who are not considered enemy combatants, as part of a plan to close the prison.
Wolf joins other Republican members of Congress criticizing the decision, which comes after a years-long federal court battle.
His statement Monday linked the men to a radical central Asian Islamist group associated with al Qaeda.
“Let’s be clear: These terrorists would not be held in prisons but released in neighborhoods,” Wolf said. “They should not be released at all into the United States.”
Sabin Willett, a lawyer representing the detainees, called Wolf’s assessment “disappointing,” and said the congressman’s characterization of them as terrorists “surely will frighten thousands of Virginians to no purpose.”
“The U.S. military reviewed their cases years ago, under the Bush administration, and determined they are not dangerous,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Examiner.
Five of their companions at Guantanamo, Willett said, were released in Albania in 2006 and “have lived peaceably in Europe ever since.”
U.S. officials fear the detainees will be tortured by the Chinese government if released to their home country.
Wolf wants a threat assessment for each of the men being released in the United States, and said the White House has blocked him from receiving briefings on the issue from federal agencies.
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the department has been providing briefings to members of Congress, including a detailed one to Wolf two weeks ago, on the review process.
