Kansas City, MO – Republican lawmakers are criticizing an Obama administration plan to move suspects held at Guantanamo Bay to a combination prison and court house facility. Administration officials are reportedly looking closely at two sites, one in Michigan, the other in Kansas. KCUR's Frank Morris reports.
President Obama has promised to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp by early next year. It's still not clear where most of the 229 terrorism suspects there will go. But it now looks as though it will be someplace with court rooms and prison cells within the cell walls, or at least the same razor wire fence.
The Associated Press reports that administration officials may be planning to use the Standish Correctional Facility in northeast Michigan. Standish was scheduled to close last week. U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan has come out against the proposal. He's running for governor of Michigan.
The U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is also being considered as a place for detainees to be both tried and imprisoned. Senator Sam Brownback is leading the opposition to that option. Brownback, a Republican, is running for governor of Kansas.
