In a hearing before the House Committee on Homeland Security Thursday, Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) made a case against President Obama’s efforts to close Guantanamo Bay and transfer its detainees to the continental United States.
But some Democrats on the committee were none too pleased with Haley’s pushback against Obama’s goal of closing Gitmo. When Haley said she didn’t want terrorists in her state, some members of Congress claimed she was already housing one in Charleston, referring to Dylann Roof.
Roof killed nine people in the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston last year. Some congressmen at the hearing labeled Roof a domestic terrorist, equating his crimes to those of Gitmo detainees charged with international terrorism.
“It doesn’t matter the nationality of the perpetrator,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.). “It doesn’t matter their motivation. Terrorism is terrorism no matter the perpetrator or the victim. So when we look at those nine people that were killed, we call it domestic terrorism.”
Richmond then posed that if South Carolina can hold Roof, then they must be able to contain at least some of the 80 foreign terrorists still being housed at Gitmo.
“The fact that you can hold a domestic terrorist means you have the ability to safely house a very dangerous person who others would want to do harm to. So you would agree that you at least have the ability to do it,” Richmond said.
“I would never question our military and our officers, we are totally capable. I don’t doubt them for a second,” Haley responded. “I’m talking about the environment you bring upon a state when you create that kind of fear. You send a chill factor to a state that you can’t put a cost on, that you can’t put a reason on, that you can’t give an explanation for.”
Haley explained her state's ability to hold Guantanamo detainees isn’t the issue, saying the problem is instead that the Obama admin wants to unnecessarily bring them onto U.S. soil simply to fulfill a campaign promise made in 2008.
“We are seeing different types of terrorism," she said. "We are seeing a different level of terrorism. It’s time to rethink this and understand that those people that are doing those types of acts that we’re sending to Guantanamo, we are sending them there for a reason. We are keeping them there for a reason.”