The Guantanamo Bay prison is an "important asset" that holds the "worst of the worst terrorists who killed Americans," Rep. Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, and he does not think it should be closed.
"I want them not only out of my backyard, but out of your backyard too," the Kansas Republican lawmaker told
Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "I want them right where they are. This is a place that's an important asset. Guantanamo Bay works."
Keeping prisoners in the Cuban facility also allows the United States to collect intelligence to keep the United States safe, said Pompeo, rejecting President Barack Obama's argument that he's forced to apologize around the world for the prison.
"No, Mr. President, there's no need to apologize," said Pompeo. "This is an institution. Guantanamo Bay, it's lawful, it is illegal to bring them here to the United States and we should keep them right where they are."
Republicans have stopped Obama's plans to close the prison for the past seven years, passing more than a dozen laws, including many signed by the president himself, that made it illegal to bring the detainees onto U.S. soil, said Pompeo.
"We shouldn't do that, we shouldn't bring them here, shouldn't read them the Miranda rights and we hope the president obeys the law," said Pompeo.
Pompeo vowed that as members of Congress, opponents will "do everything we can," including filing a lawsuit to stop the detainees from being brought to prisons on U.S. soil.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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