The Republican attorneys general of Kansas, Colorado and South Carolina warned President Obama on Wednesday against taking executive action to transfer terrorism detainees from Guantanamo Bay to prisons in their states, saying it might incite the Islamic State to attack.
“Recent attacks in France, Egypt, Lebanon and elsewhere underscore the risk your illegal action would bring to our states,” they wrote in a letter to the president. “Several previously released detainees sought refuge with” the Islamic State.
“Moving detainees to the mainland will create imminent danger and make the communities where they are placed targets,” they said.
Attorneys General Cynthia Coffman of Kansas, Derek Schmidt of Colorado and Alan Wilson of South Carolina also noted that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch testified to the House Judiciary Committee this week that current federal law “does not allow” such transfers from Guantanamo to the U.S.
The White House is developing a plan to submit to Congress to transfer about 50 of the 112 detainees from Guantanamo to prisons in the U.S. White House press secretary Josh Earnest wouldn’t rule out the president taking executive action to transfer some detainees if Congress doesn’t do what the administration wants.
A report in Politico on Wednesday evening said the Obama administration will hold off on releasing its plan to close the facility, which had been expected this week, though the article said the latest delay was for financial reasons, not concern for political backlash or the potentially awkward proximity with last week’s Paris terror attacks.
SEE ALSO: Loretta Lynch: Guantanamo detainee transfers to U.S. soil prohibited by law
House Speaker Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, said he was glad to learn of the delay in the plan.
“The administration’s time would be better spent on a plan to defeat [the Islamic State] than on one to move terrorist detainees to our homeland. This delay should be permanent,” Mr. Ryan said.
White House officials have frequently argued that the Guantanamo Bay facility has become a recruitment tool for terrorists and a potent symbol to rile up anti-Americanism.
In the recently approved National Defense Authorization Act, Congress again has blocked the president from making the transfers or using federal funds to facilitate such a move.
The attorneys general said they have been working with Mr. Ryan and Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, Arizona Republican, “to find ways to prevent illegal executive action related to the detainees that would defy Congress and present a risk to our States and our citizens.”
They asked Mr. Obama to reply by Dec. 4 with an explanation of “how the administration proposes to guarantee the safety and security of the American people, and notwithstanding the attorney general’s clear statement that a transfer is illegal, the legal authority upon which you plan to act.”
SEE ALSO: Obama finalizing plan to close Guantanamo Bay
Teams from the Defense Department recently surveyed possible sites for the Guantanamo detainees in the three states, over the objections of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, both Republicans.
In Colorado, Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper hasn’t taken a position, with a spokeswoman telling the Associated Press last month that he “wants to have a full understanding of the costs, risk and impacts for Colorado.”
Even so, Ms. Coffman joined fellow Republicans Mr. Wilson and Mr. Schmidt in the Wednesday letter to Mr. Obama saying that the transfer would make their states “targets” for terrorism.
• Valerie Richardson contributed to this article.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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