President Trump Planning to Sign Order to Keep Gitmo Open

President Trump plans to sign an executive order that would keep the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, open, according to a leaked document obtained by Politico.

Trump will reportedly announce his plans in the days ahead of or during his State of the Union speech.

The order will be largely symbolic in nature, as President Obama was never able to transfer the last of Guantanamo Bay’s prisoners and close the prison during his last term in office. But the former president did oversee the transfer of 200 prisoners from the island, which now holds 41 detainees.

The leaked document, a draft State Department cable planned to be sent to U.S. embassies around the globe, states that there are no plans to expand the prison’s population at the current time.

“At this time, we are not aware of any plans to bring additional detainees to Guantanamo Bay,” the cable says.

But Trump has signaled his support for the prison and its use in the past, saying in February 2016 that he wanted to “load it up with bad dudes.” 

Last year, Trump said he would consider sending terror suspects who are accused of committing their crimes on U.S. soil to the prison.

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