Sam Johnson: Don't Send Terrorists to Texas

Press Release

Sam Johnson: Don't send terrorists to Texas

Sends letter to the President insisting that Texas won't house terrorists

In the wake of President Barack Obama's recent executive order to close down Guantanamo Bay Naval Base detention center within a year, today U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson (3rd Dist.-Texas) joined fellow Lone Star State lawmakers and sent a letter to the President insisting that they will join together to ensure that suspected terrorists presently residing in "Gitmo" don't end up in Texas.

"Don't send terrorists to Texas. We don't want them. It's that simple," said Johnson, a former Prisoner of War in Vietnam for nearly seven years, who spent more than half of that time in solitary confinement.

The January 22, 2009 order insists that the facility will close no later than one year later. The order also states that people covered by this order will "be returned to their home country, released, transferred to a third country, or transferred to another United States detention facility in a manner consistent with law."

The letter states, "It is our collective opinion that no detainee from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility should, under any circumstances, be released, transferred to the State of Texas…These enemy combatants are kept at Guantanamo - under American control but outside the United States - to ensure that constitutional rights do not attach to them. Supreme Court precedents indicated that courts can bestow certain constitutional rights on individuals simply by virtue of their being on U.S. soil, potentially affording these detainees additional rights under U.S. immigration statutes. Granting such rights to these dangerous enemy combatants could potentially lead to their release into towns and cities of Texas…which would put innocent Texans in great danger, and we will do everything we can to prevent that from happening."

Johnson feels that the transfer or release of Gitmo inmates presents a clear and present danger to the American people. At least 61 former detainees have returned to terrorist activities and one is suspected of orchestrating last September's deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen. Johnson believes that the United States has already given enemy combatants rights far beyond those provided by any other nation.

Johnson co-sponsored legislation to prohibit federal courts from ordering the release or transfer of Gitmo detainees into the U.S. The Enemy Combatant Detention Review Act, H.R. 630, establishes clear rules regarding the detention of known terrorists. The Act prohibits a federal court from ordering the government to bring enemy combatants into the U.S. and ensures that an alien captured and detained abroad during wartime cannot be admitted and released in the U.S.

"My first choice would be for President Obama to change his mind and keep Gitmo open for the safety and security of Americans. I will do anything in my power to make sure these terrorists don't end up in Texas," concluded Johnson.

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