WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama said Friday that the continued operation of the U.S.’s military facility at Guantanamo Bay “undermines our national security.”
“We must close it,” he said in a statement marking the signing of the 2015 defense appropriations bill. "Individuals from across the political spectrum have recognized that the facility should be closed. But instead of removing unwarranted and burdensome restrictions that curtail the executive branch's options for managing the detainee population, this bill continues them."
“I call on members from both sides of the aisle to work with us to bring this chapter of American history to a close,” he added.
Obama pledged to close the facility upon taking office in 2008, but has run up against a confrontational Congress that has opposed sending detainees to the U.S., including for trial, and has placed restrictions on transferring them to other countries.
The Obama administration has stepped up efforts to transfer remaining detainees at the facility.
The U.S. has now sent 19 individuals from the facility to other countries this year alone.
According to the Pentagon, 136 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay.
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