House Panel Rejects a Plan to Shift Detainees to Illinois

May 22, 2010 by legitgov

House Panel Rejects a Plan to Shift Detainees to Illinois 20 May 2010 The House Armed Services Committee has dealt a blow to President Obama's hopes to shutter the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by unanimously approving legislation that would prohibit creating a detention center inside the United States. The administration had asked Congress to approve about $350 million to buy and renovate a nearly empty prison in Thomson, Ill. The White House plan was to empty Guantánamo and transfer its detainees to Illinois - including 48 who would be held without trial as wartime prisoners. But late Wednesday, the House committee unanimously approved a defense bill for 2011 that bans spending money to build or modify any facility inside the United States to house Guantánamo detainees, according to a summary of the bill.