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Washington – U.S.
Senator
Tim
Scott
(R-SC)
issued
the
following
statement after the
Obama
administration presented
Congress
with
a
plan
to
move
terrorists
held
at
Guantanamo
Bay
to
a
location
on
domestic
soil.
“The
law
could
not
be
any
clearer:
President
Obama
does
not
have
the
authority
to
move
dozens
of
dangerous
terrorists
from
the
detention
facility
at
Guantanamo
Bay
to
American
communities.
Instead
of
trying
to
empty
out
Gitmo
and
moving
dozens
of
dangerous
terrorists
to
South
Carolina,
Kansas
or
Colorado,
the
President
needs
to
put
our
national
security
interests
first.
It
is
beyond
time
he
abandon
this
reckless
campaign
promise,
as
even
his
own
Defense
Secretary
and
Attorney
General,
along
with military
leaders,
have
concluded
his
course
of
action
is
illegal.
The
fiscal
argument
the
White
House
is
trying
to
make
is
a
shallow
one,
and
pretending
like
moving
Guantanamo
to
a
new
location
is
going
to
take
away
a
propaganda point for
groups
like
ISIS
is
simply disingenuous. There
is
simply
no
reason
to
put
a
target
on
an
American
community,
when
we
already
have
an
isolated
facility,
well-guarded
by
Marines
that
is
more
than
capable
of
holding
them.
I
want
to
thank
my
colleagues,
especially
Senators
Pat
Roberts
(R-KS)
and
Cory
Gardner
(R-CO),
for
their
work
to
help
stop
the
President’s
dangerous
plan – because
we
know
there
is
no
plan
or
study
that
shows
closing
Guantanamo
Bay
and
moving
these
terrorists
to
domestic
locations
will
make
America
safer. I will
use
every
tool
at
my
disposal
to
prevent
this
reckless,
illegal
plan
from
moving
forward.”
Senators
Scott, Roberts,
and
Gardner
have
been
outspoken
opponents
of
President
Obama’s
intentions
to
close
Guantanamo
Bay.
They
have
stated
concerns
with
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
bullseye
for
acts
of
terror
on
an
American
community.
Sites
in
South
Carolina,
Kansas,
and
Colorado
have
been
surveyed
as
potential
replacements
for
Guantanamo.
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