A plan by the Defense Department to move Guantanamo detainees to prisons on U.S. soil is against the law and dangerous to American citizens, says Sen. Tim Scott.
"For heaven's sake, how is it a good idea to ever bring an enemy combatant to the American soil unnecessarily," the South Carolina Republican said Tuesday on Fox News Channel's
"Your World with Neil Cavuto."
The Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, S.C., is one of the military facilities being considered to take the prisoners taken in the war on terror as President Barack Obama attempts to fulfill his pledge to close the prison on the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The brig in Charleston is a short distance from schools, Scott said.
Kansas Republican
Sen. Pat Roberts has expressed his disapproval of Fort Leavenworth as another possible site to house the detainees. Leavenworth sits near the Missouri River, which could allow access to terrorists to attack the site, he has said.
"It is already against the law of our country to bring enemy combatants, these terrorists from Gitmo, to America and yet the president and his team at DoD are analyzing the feasibility of transferring these detainees to Charleston or Leavenworth and other locations around the country that are not military installations," Scott said. "I can't understand any rationale that would put our lives in danger by bringing those enemy combatants to America."
Roberts has said he would hold up the nomination for the next secretary of the Army, just as he did in 2009, if the plans to use Leavenworth are not dropped.
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