Washington, D.C. – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet released the following statement on the plan the President has submitted to Congress regarding the future of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility:
“I’ve repeatedly said I do not support the transfer of prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military facility to Colorado. I’ve voted to close the prison, but I believe military detainees should be held in military prisons. Colorado does not have that type of facility. This plan has done nothing to change my mind. These detainees should not be transferred to Colorado.”
Bennet, who has supported closing the prison, has consistently voted and spoken out against moving the detainees to Colorado.
In 2009, he voted to kill funding to begin closing the Guantanamo facility, saying federal prisons like Supermax should not be considered. He helped pass an amendment to bar the transfer or release of any detainee at the prison to the United States. Bennet fired back at senators who suggested prisoners could be transferred to Colorado saying, “Military detainees should not be transported to and held at Supermax.”
He also voted for a Sense of the Senate calling for the Defense Secretary to consult with state and local governments before making any decision about where detainees may be transferred, to require the Administration to report to Congress every 90 days on the prisoner population at Guantanamo Bay, and to ban the transfer of any detainee unless the President can certify the release would pose no threat to members of the U.S. military.
He has voted for Defense Authorization bills for fiscal years 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 which all have barred the President from transferring Guantanamo detainees into the United States. He has also voted for several appropriations bills that contained similar restrictions.