HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

House Republicans Set to Introduce “Keep Terrorists Out of America Act”

Later this morning, House Republicans will introduce the “Keep Terrorists Out of America Act” aimed at preventing the release of Guantanamo Bay terrorist prisoners within the United States. 

The bill states unequivocally that terrorists housed at the Guantanamo Bay facility should not be released or transferred into the United States.  An Agence France-Presse story published last night highlights additional details of the House Republican plan:

The proposal mandate[s] that no prisoner could be released or transferred into the United States unless the destination state’s governor and legislature sign off on the plan, a source familiar with the plan told AFP on condition of anonymity.

It would require Obama to give lawmakers the name of the detainee and their proposed destination in the United States, where the prisoners enjoy more legal protections than on the US military base in Cuba, the source said.

The Guantanamo Bay detention facility houses some of the world’s most hardened killers, including some of the very people who planned the horrific attacks on 9/11. 

The question of where to house detainees is now a sticking point because the Administration announced in January that it would close the prison within one year.  Americans do not want to live with terrorist-killers in their backyard, and releasing them back to their home countries has already proven dangerous to our troops.  In fact, as many as “60 former detainees have resurfaced on foreign battlefields,” according to a Fox News story, which also noted that, “The Taliban’s new top operations officer in southern Afghanistan had been a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.”

Moreover, as The Wall Street Journal’s editorial today notes, releasing the terrorist detainees on U.S. soil will give activist judges the excuse they’ve longed for to grant terrorists the same rights as Americans:

[T]he antiwar left wants terrorists treated like garden-variety criminals in the civilian courts or maybe military courts martial…the Administration risks losing all control once enemy combatants set foot on formal U.S. soil, which the courts could determine entitles the terrorists to the same Constitutional protections as U.S. citizens.  One federal judge has already ordered that 17 detainees — the Uighurs, a Chinese ethnic minority — be released domestically.

Yet despite all of these facts, the Administration is intent on closing the Guantanamo detention facility - with no plan on where the terrorists held there will go.  House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has asked: “What is the Administration’s overarching plan to take on the terrorist threat and to keep America safe?” 

Americans are still waiting for an answer.  House Republicans, through the “Keep Terrorists Out of America Act,” seek to find one - and prevent terrorists from coming to American shores.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 9:02 am and is filed under War on Terror. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “House Republicans Set to Introduce “Keep Terrorists Out of America Act””

1. Tommy Lout Says:
   May 7th, 2009 at 10:25 pm

   A short note.
   Let’s keep America safe! I’m for the bill.We certainly do not need any terrorist in the U S A at all.
   I would like to get involved. I do pray for our country.

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