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Last updated on: 7/23/2020 12:47:39 PM PST

Should the Guantánamo Bay Detention Center Remain Open?

The Guantánamo Bay Detention Center, also referred to as Gitmo, sits next to the US Guantánamo Bay Naval Station in southeastern Cuba. Existing structures were repurposed after 9/11 to hold "enemy combatants" in the War on Terror. Because the detention facilities were not on US soil, the Bush administration argued the detainees were not covered by the US Constitution. On June 12, 2008, the US Supreme Court ruled that detainees have the Constitutional right to challenge their detention. About 780 people have been held at Gitmo since 2002, with the peak population at 684 in June 2003.

On Nov. 18, 2009, President Obama signed an executive order to close Gitmo within a year. A year later, Obama announced the detention center had not yet closed because of challenges in relocating detainees. The Guantánamo Bay Detention Center was not closed and still held 41 or 42 detainees by the time Obama left office in Jan. 2017. President Trump vowed to keep the facility open to fight terrorism. 40 detainees remain in the facility.
Sources: Spencer Ackerman, "Obama to Leave Office with More Than 40 Detainees Still in Guantánamo Bay," theguardian.com, Jan. 18, 2017
CNN Library, "Guantanamo Bay Naval Station Fast Facts," cnn.com, Sep. 16, 2019
Andrei Scheinkman, et al., "The Guantanamo Docket," nytimes.com (accessed July 22, 2020)
Pro

Con
Joe Biden
Biden
Jo Jorgensen
Jorgensen
Not Clear or Not Found
Howie Hawkins
Hawkins
Donald Trump
Trump





Pro (Yes)

Con (No)

Con
Joe Biden
Biden
Democrat



Source:
[Editor's Note: A statement issued by the campaign said Biden "continues to support closing the detention center."
Source: Carol Rosenberg, "Biden Still Wants to Close Guantánamo Prison," nytimes.com, June 27, 2020 ]
Con
Jo Jorgensen
Jorgensen
Libertarian

"No. I will do everything in my power to shut down Guantanamo Bay immediately. There are prisoners who’ve been held at Gitmo for 18 years who are innocent. This breeds resentment and heightens our risk of terrorist attacks. I will see that all detainees are tried in US courts, not military tribunals. And I will bring home troops from around the world, starting in Afghanistan and the Middle East. I will make American one giant Switzerland – armed and neutral."

Source: Communication from the Jorgensen campaign to ProCon.org on Sep. 8, 2020.


None Found
Howie Hawkins
Hawkins
Green

No position found as of July 24, 2020.


Not Clearly Pro or Con
Donald Trump
Trump
Republican

"I think it’s crazy. It costs a fortune to operate, and I think it’s crazy. We’re looking at a lot of things. Look, President Obama said that Guantánamo Bay would be closed, and he never got it done... The big decision we have now is we have thousands of people. They came from other countries. We want those countries to take them back. We did them a big favor by stopping them. If they came from France, we want France to take them and to try and do whatever they have to do with them. But that’s a very expensive situation.”

Source: Peter Baker, "Trump Says ‘It’s Crazy’ to Spend $13 Million Per Inmate at Guantánamo," nytimes.com, Sep. 19, 2019

[Editor's Note: Trump previously expressed a PRO opinion on this question. Read Trump's former position on whether the Guantánamo Bay Detention Center should remain open.]




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