Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) said today that the Obama administration is “bribing” economically suffering towns across the country as it attempts to relieve itself of the political problem of closing Guantanamo Bay.
“They’re going into communities that are hard-pressed economically and holding out a pot of gold,” he told reporters. Hoekstra was referring to the White House plan to bring terror suspects to prisons across the country. He said that the administration was taking advantage of hard-hit towns across the country by promoting the jobs that would be created by adding Guantanamo Bay detainees to their prison populations.
Hoekstra said that before prisoners are transferred to any town in the U.S., the state legislature and the governor should have to approve the move.
Hoekstra, who is the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, joined fellow GOP members from national security committees in sending a letter to President Obama calling on him to explain “why you have effectively declared that your administration will revert to a pre-9/11 mentality” by bringing terror suspects from Gitmo to New York to face federal trials, which the group calls a “law enforcement approach” to terrorism. The group announced the letter at the press conference today.
House Republicans are also pushing to force a vote on their “Keep Terrorists Out Of America” Act, which they say would prevent the White House from transferring prisoners from Gitmo to the U.S.
