U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) strongly opposed the news on Tuesday that a Guantanamo Bay detainee will be moved to Kansas.
According to the Associated Press, in addition to moving detainees, the administration is said to be pursuing plans to locate an alternate U.S.-based facility.
“Once again, the administration refuses to listen to Kansans and the American people,” Jenkins said. “At my recent town hall in Leavenworth, Leavenworth County residents voiced their unanimous concerns and frustrations with the President’s plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center and transfer terrorists to the United States – possibly to the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. It’s time for the President to drop this reckless campaign promise and instead focus on strengthening our national security.”
Jenkins has long fought the effort to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States, warning that potentially moving detainees to the military’s only maximum-security facility in the U.S. at Leavenworth, Kansas, would jeopardize the safety of the town’s families, schools and businesses.
A report in the Wall Street Journal earlier in December estimated that the cost of closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility could reach as much as $600 million.