WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) today said the administration’s report on alternative locations to detain terrorists currently held at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center is short on details and serves little purpose but to varnish the President’s failed national security legacy.  

“The absence of a specific recommendation for an alternative location proves that there is no suitable location. The Congress and the American people are against the President’s desire to move these terrorists to the heart of any American community. It is against the law. Like most of the President’s attempts to skirt the law and enact his agenda, doubtlessly this action will end up in the courts.

“The plan leaves the details to Congress, which has overwhelmingly and time after time, opposed this action in the first place.

“I reject the President’s rational that closing GITMO will stop the ability of terrorists to recruit new jihadis. This notion is ridiculous. It will simply establish a GITMO north. Given the ever growing threat of ISIS and reports that future battlefield captures are inevitable, the President cannot prove closing the facility will improve our security, no matter how much he wishes it so. Nothing in this report substantiates his assertions.

“There is no intelligence estimate of the threat it may pose to those living and working in these communities. It will be at great cost to the American people both in precious taxpayer dollars and most important, in their safety and peace of mind.

“Kansans and those in Fort Leavenworth are against this transfer and are angry at this President who risks their security in forcing this threat upon them. In fact, most Kansans say this action is further grounds for impeachment. I will continue to fight the President no matter where he wants to send terrorists to our shores.

 “I will continue to consider all options available to me under the Constitution. It is incumbent upon me to protect the security of my constituents and the American people. My holds on the President’s nominees will continue including the nominee to be the Secretary of the Army and on the nominee to be the General Counsel of the Department of Defense.”

The report is here.

Sites in South Carolina, Kansas, and Colorado have been surveyed as potential replacements for Guantanamo. Senators Roberts, Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Cory Gardner (R-Co.) have been outspoken opponents of President Obama’s intentions to close Guantanamo Bay.

Last night, the Senators issued this joint statement.

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 bright red 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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