Trump announces executive order to keep Gitmo open
President Trump announced Tuesday he has signed an executive order to keep Guantanamo Bay prison open.
The order, announced during the president’s State of the Union, will reverse a President Barack Obama directive to close the controversial detention center. Though Obama campaigned on closing the facility, he was ultimately unable to strike a deal with Congress that would have sorted out what to do with the remaining detainees.
"I am asking the Congress to ensure that, in the fight against ISIS and al Qaeda, we continue to have all necessary power to detain terrorists -- wherever we chase them down, wherever we find them," Trump said. While the prison remains open, the Trump administration has not sent any new detainees there.
