Kris Alingod - AHN Contributor
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - House Democrats overcame GOP opposition on Thursday to pass legislation allowing detainees prison camp in the American Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay to be transferred to the United States for trial. The Obama administration is pushing to meet a self-imposed Jan. 22 deadline next year to close the controversial prison.
The measure, which bans prisoner transfers to the U.S. except for legal proceedings, was approved when a larger bill to which it was attached, the 2010 budget for the Homeland Security Department, passed by a vote of 307-114. Sixty-three Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the bill, which only needs the final approval of the Senate before being sent to the White House.
Conservatives oppose closing Guantanamo, saying the nation is still at war and that no other facility is capable of "safely and humanely" holding top terror suspects. They also warn that bringing prisoners into U.S. soil would risk the nation's safety.
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) argued before the vote, "To permit enemy combatants to come to the United States for the purpose of prosecution is a misguided and is potentially a very dangerous decision. Terrorists should not be treated like common criminals in the Federal court. These detainees are enemies of the State, and should be treated as such by being held and brought to justice right where they are: in a very well-established judicial facility at Guantanamo."
But the bill's principal author, House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Price (D-NC), sought to allay any concerns by saying the measure "establishes strict safeguards on the movement of Guantanamo's detainees, and if the administration chooses to address their cases in U.S. courts, this legislation ensures that that will be done with due consideration, planning, and forethought."
"It prohibits current detainees from being released into the United States or any U.S. territory," Price said. "It allows the transfer... only for the purpose of prosecuting that individual and only after Congress receives a plan detailing the risks involved and a plan for mitigating such risks, the cost of the transfer, the legal rationale and court demands, and a copy of the notification provided to the governor of the receiving State 14 days before a transfer, with a certification by the Attorney General that the individual poses little or no security risk.
"It bars the use of funds to provide any immigration benefits to Guantanamo detainees, other than to allow them to be brought to the U.S. for prosecution, and it mandates the inclusion of all detainees on the TSA No Fly List," he added.
The prison camp in the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was opened in 2002 and currently has about 220 detainees.
President Barack Obama had issued three executive orders two days after his inauguration: one closing Guantanamo by Jan. 22, 2010, another banning waterboarding and requiring all prisoner interrogations to follow the Army Field Manual, and the third ordering a review of options for handling detainees.
The administration has so far succeeded in persuading several nations to take detainees. The Irish Justice Ministry has said it would accept two prisoners as refugees under the Geneva Convention, while Italy has agreed to take three. Bermuda has resettled four Uighurs, Iraq has taken one and Saudi Arabia three. Palau, a Pacific island nation south of Tokyo, has also said it would accept the temporary resettlement of 17 other Uighurs.
The European Union in June adopted a framework "that permits individual EU member states to accept detainees."
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