Rubio introduces legislation to stop terrorists from returning to the battlefield

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced the Keep Terrorists Off the Battlefield Act on Monday to bar the president from setting terrorists free from the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo).

The legislation would also prevent the president from closing the detention facility entirely. The bill would also require that former detainees who have returned to the battlefield be recaptured and returned to the detention center.

“The safety and security of the American people should come first, before any of President Obama’s naïve and unrealistic campaign promises,” Rubio said. “We know about 30 percent of the terrorists set free from Gitmo have returned to the fight with the goal of killing more Americans, including our men and women in uniform. We also know the detainees still at Gitmo are considered the worst of the worst, and yet the administration and its misguided allies in Congress want to give them the opportunity to join groups like ISIS and al Qaeda. My bill would end this administration’s unilateral, reckless policy that is endangering American lives, and make sure we keep radical Islamic terrorists right where they belong: off the battlefield and off U.S. soil.”

Rubio’s bill comes in the wake of a report by the Office of Director of National Intelligence that found that nine detainees freed from Guantanamo Bay have rejoined terrorist groups.