U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) introduced a resolution on Tuesday that would officially reject plans to transfer prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to America.
The resolution addresses a plan released by the Obama administration in February that outlines the closure of Guantanamo Bay.
The measure states that Guantanamo Bay is the “optimal location” to detain foreign enemy combatants and asserts that any transfer of inmates to the U.S. would be a threat to national security.
“The president has failed to find a suitable site in a U.S. community to relocate terrorists held at Guantanamo because there is no suitable site on our shores,” Roberts said. “Despite this failure and law prohibiting it, the president has said he will still transfer detainees by executive order. This resolution puts the Senate on record, again demonstrating to the president our clear opposition to this security risk. Perhaps something will deter him from an agenda in which the wishes and the security of the American people are last on the list.”
The resolution demands that President Obama abandon any illegal plans to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. without prior authorization from Congress.
U.S. Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Tim Scott (R-SC) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) cosponsored Roberts’ resolution.