Senators Scott, Roberts & Gardner to Pres. Obama: Moving GITMO to Mainland Threatens National Security

WASHINGTON, DC – Following the President’s State of the Union Address, U.S. Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.),Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) today said President Obama’s intention to use executive action to re-locate terrorists held at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to American communities would harm national security. During the speech, the Senators sat together in united opposition to the President’s plan.

“Tonight’s comments by President Obama continue to show his willingness to defy current law, Congress and the American people in regards to Guantanamo Bay,”Scott said. “The President’s ongoing attempts to relocate dangerous international terrorists to domestic sites on US soil are dangerous, plain and simple. There is absolutely no need to put a target on an American community when we already have a world-class facility guarded by well-trained Marines to hold these detainees.”

“The intention to send terrorists to the mainland is just another of the Obama Administration’s misguided strategic national security decisions,”Roberts said.“Closing Guantanamo will never endear radical Islamic fundamentalists to America. It will simply move these detainees and their security risks north, to one of the communities in our states.”

“The American people and Congress have been extremely clear: Guantanamo Bay houses some of the world’s deadliest terrorists,”Gardner said.“They do not belong back on the battlefield fighting against us, nor do they belong on U.S. soil. Bringing them herewould be reckless and dangerous. The President should abandon this misguided political plan.”

In November, 86 percent of the House and Senate voted for legislation that bars the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to domestic soil. The White House has repeatedly stated their desire for Congress to “get out of the way” and let them close Guantanamo, regardless of the 30 percent recidivism rate among released detainees, the hundreds of millions of dollars it will cost to construct a new facility, and the fact that opening domestic facility would place a bright red bullseye on an American community. The Administration has already surveyed sites in South Carolina, Kansas, and Colorado as potential replacement