Republicans called on President Obama Tuesday to “abandon” his plan to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, and warned that he would be breaking the law if he attempts to transfer the 91 terrorists held there to prisons in the United States.
The top House Democrat, meanwhile, offered praise but not an endorsement of the proposal.
“Enemy combatants should remain outside of the United States where they can be detained away from our communities and without needlessly jeopardizing the safety and security of the American people,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the law already prohibits Obama from transferring prisoners to the United States, as Obama proposed to do in the plan he handed over to Congress.
Lawmakers have repeatedly passed legislative provisions banning transfers from Guantanamo, the most recent in the 2016 defense authorization measure Obama signed into law last year.
“Bringing these detainees to the U.S. would not only violate current law, it would defy the will of Congress and the American people who do not want dangerous, radical terrorists in their backyards,” Cornyn said.
Earlier Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned in a Senate floor speech that transferring prisoners to the U.S. would be “illegal.”
For the GOP, Obama’s plan reinforced their dim view of the president’s foreign policy approach, which they believe is too weak and failing to combat the spread of terrorism. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said Obama should “abandon” the plan and “redirect his focus from an old campaign promise to the larger national security issues facing our nation.”
But Democrats are praising Obama’s plan to close the prison, which he has pledged to do since his first campaign for president in 2008.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called Obama’s proposal “a strong, detailed plan” and said the prison “hurts, rather than advances our efforts to keep America safe and combat terrorism abroad.”
Still, Pelosi withheld her full endorsement.
She called for Congress to “thoroughly review this plan for how to move our national security and American values forward.”
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Benjamin Cardin, of Maryland, said lawmakers “must work with the president” to close the prison, but he also avoided an unequivocal endorsement of the plan. Closing this facility is a complicated matter that can and should be done in a way that respects the rule of law and American values, and keeps our citizens from harm.”
Americans have remained opposed to closing the prison, according to years of polling.
“Americans will not stand the thought of placing terrorists on U.S. soil, and the transfer of detainees to other countries does not erase the threat of their continued extremist actions,” said Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga. “This plan from the Pentagon places our citizens at unacceptable and completely avoidable levels of risk.”
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., called the proposal, ” a dangerous, irresponsible and illegal action.”
