"I believe that maintaining an extrajudicial prison which is internationally renowned for its interrogations and for its lack of due process is a terrible policy decision," Warner, who is an attorney with the Federal Public Defender of the Northern District of Ohio, said on Thursday. "Guantanamo is the antithesis of all of these values and our government should repudiate such places at every opportunity including the present one"
Nevertheless, the prison at Guantanamo was still popular among US citizens, especially Trump’s base. "A vast majority of the president’s supporters support the prison and likely support expansion of its population," he said.
Trump was playing to his supporters with his comments at the State of the Union address, however, he will have to deal with other elements that oppose the policy.
"I believe there are strong forces within our government and the administration that believes Guantanamo is damaging the United States," he said.
The legality of detentions in Guantanamo prison has been questioned by several human rights watchdogs, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Detainees have had a limited access to the options available to the suspects under the US law, including legal representation. There have also been reports of torture used in interrogations.
Trump in his State of the Union address on Tuesday said that he signed an order to keep the Guantanamo prison open indefinitely. Former President Barack Obama tried but failed to close the detention center which became notorious because of arbitrary detentions and torture allegations.
