Congress must first appropriate money for the
takeover of the Thomson Correctional Center and the necessary
construction. Lawmakers wary of moving detainees from the Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, military base into the United States could balk at
approving the funds. In the Senate, there's always the chance of
delaying tactics that could hold up the money for months.Congress
also needs to change a law prohibiting detention in the U.S. of
detainees who are not awaiting trial.
The prison in rural western Illinois may not be purchased from
the state until March and will need up to 10 months of construction
said Joe Shoemaker, spokesman for Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
President Barack Obama originally said Guantanamo would close
next Jan. 22. While that date proved unrealistic, the president has
directed administration officials to move quickly to acquire the
maximum-security prison in Illinois.
On Wednesday, White House spokesman Ben LaBolt would not say when
Guantanamo would close.
"The president remains as committed today to closing the
detention facility at Guantanamo as he was when he entered office,
and substantial progress has been made in recent weeks," LaBolt told
The Associated Press. "The detainee population at Guantanamo is now
smaller than it has been at any time since 2002.
"We will work with Congress to ensure that we secure the
necessary funds to purchase and upgrade the Thomson prison -- which
will operate at a substantially lower cost to taxpayers -- next
year," he said.
Shoemaker said, "The end of 2010 or the start of 2011 has always
been the mark the administration talked to us about."
In addition to any appropriations struggles, current federal law
requires that detainees can only be housed in the United States
while their trials are pending. That law would have to be changed to
cover detainees who have not yet been charged and will not be sent
abroad. The change would have to specify that detainees could be
kept on U.S. soil for any purpose.
