The Obama administration has informed Congress of its plans to resettle as many as 19 detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in a final sprint to pare down the inmate population at the military prison, U.S. officials said.
Even if the transfers occur before Jan. 20 as planned, about 40 inmates will remain at the facility, a lasting reminder of President Obama’s failure to deliver on his Inauguration Day promise to close the prison and an illustration of the difficulty of following through on one of his central national security goals.
Obama’s inability to close Guantanamo after eight years in office empowers President-elect Donald Trump to keep the prison operational. Trump has said he will make it part of his counterterrorism policy and “load it up with some bad dudes.”
The end to Obama’s Guantanamo plans also sets up a renewed debate over the proper handling of terrorism suspects and the legality of a system that was designed to interrogate and hold al-Qaeda suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
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