The president must order the Secretary of Defense to ensure the Periodic Review Board "PRB" process, which determines whether the continued imprisonment of un-cleared detainees is justified, is meaningfully followed. The president should suspend the failing military commissions , and the executive branch should transfer to federal court any detainee it seeks to prosecute, if there is untainted evidence against him.
The Departments of Defense and Justice should not contest habeas corpus challenges brought by detainees who are not prosecuted. The Department of Justice should enter into plea negotiations with detainees willing to plead guilty in federal court. Related Stories. Leave this field blank. Related Coverage. Opened under President George W. Obama whittled down the number further but his effort to close the prison was stymied largely by Republican opposition in Congress.
The federal government is still barred by law from transferring any inmates to prisons on the U. Even with his own Democratic party now controlling Congress, their majorities are so slim that Biden would face a tough challenge securing legislative changes because some Democrats might also oppose them. A revived Guantanamo strategy is expected to focus initially on further decreasing the number of prisoners by repatriating them or finding other countries to accept them, according to the people familiar with the matter.
This could also mean re-establishing a State Department post of Guantanamo closure envoy, created by Obama but eliminated by Trump, to resume negotiations with other governments on detainee transfers, the sources said. Still, any closure plan could initially be hampered by the coronavirus pandemic, making moving prisoners unlikely for now.
Just over three weeks after taking office, the Biden administration has not made Guantanamo one of its top early priorities as it grapples with the pandemic and its economic fallout. Obama made closing Guantanamo one of his first executive orders in but failed to do so by the end of his second term. Shutting the facility has been a demand of progressive Democrats whose support helped Biden win the White House. Privately administration officials express skepticism about getting the support they will need from Congress.
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