House of Representatives Votes Against Guantanamo Detainees Transfers to US

The US House of Representatives rejected an amendment to the US Justice Department annual appropriations bill that would have allowed transferring Guitmo detainees to the United States.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US House of Representatives rejected an amendment to the US Justice Department annual appropriations bill that would have allowed transferring Guantanamo Bay prison detainees to the United States, the House Office of the Clerk said on Wednesday.

“Failed by recorded vote: 170 – 256,” the office said in a record. The amendment was rejected primarily by Republican Congressmen, 238 of whom voted against it.

The amendment, introduced by US Congressman Jerry Nadler, countered a provision in the Justice Department budget proposal that prohibits the use of funds for transferring or releasing Guantanamo detention facility prisoners.

Republican Congressman John Culberson argued that “killers and psychopaths” detained at the facility do not deserve protections offered under the US Constitution.

The administration of US President Barack Obama transferred 32 detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in 2014, according to the advocacy organization Human Rights First.

In January 2009, Obama signed an order to shut down the Guantanamo prison, following allegations that detainees were subject to human rights violations, only to sign legislation in 2011 that, in part, hampered the transfer of prisoners.