Sen. Tom Cotton wants to better monitor former Guantanamo Bay detainees.
The Arkansas Republican on Wednesday introduced the Guantanamo Bay Recidivism Prevention Act of 2015, a bill that more closely monitors the activities of Guantanamo Bay detainees once they’re released from the military prison.
If a country received a detainee on or after Feb. 1, and if the country is on the Obama administration’s detainee recidivist report, foreign assistance provided under the Foreign Assistance Act or Arms Export Control Act would be prohibited.
“President Obama seems to have little concern for what happens after a detainee leaves Guantanamo Bay. But these detainees are hardened terrorists and their release puts U.S. lives and our national security interests at risk,” Cotton said in a statement.
The administration’s report from early March showed that 12 detainees returned to the fight within the past year.
Cotton has previously been outspoken on Guantanamo Bay.
In February at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, he said his only problem with the prison was “that there are too many empty beds and cells there right now.”
“As far I’m concerned, every last one of them can rot in hell. But as long as they don’t do that, they can rot in Guantanamo Bay,” the Iraq War veteran added at the same hearing.
