Obama working to release more detainees from Gitmo before Trump takes office

Of the 41 men who remain as of Thursday, only 10 have been charged with war crimes. The vast majority have been detained for more than a decade, and none were captured by the U.S. military.

If the rest do not make it onto a military plane by Friday, lawyers say, they will likely die at Guantánamo along with the 26 other men known as “forever prisoners” — including the alleged plotters of the 9/11 attacks — the U.S. has determined will be detained indefinitely.

Many of the detainees are deeply involved in their own defense, and they are aware that Trump’s victory has raised the stakes, according to legal teams who represent them. In recent conversations they’ve expressed their concern if they don’t make it out before Trump enters the Oval Office, they’ll be stuck.