Guantanamo Bay Detainees

Plans are now in place to transfer a significant amount of Guantanamo Bay detainees to the Thomson Correctional Center here in Illinois. There is fear that this may pose a security threat to the United States by making it a possible target for more terrorism. As we are living in post 9/11 times - the threat and fear of terrorism is significantly heightened. But this reality seems not to be considered over capitalistic motives of the government. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin is in grand support of this move. He is quoted by saying, "The prison would house fewer than 100 Guantanamo detainees and would have a "significant positive impact on the local economy" by generating more than 3,000 jobs." But what's more important, money or security?

As we are clearly living in times of economic hardships - many are going to drastic measures to generate more money. Thomason Correctional Center has been desolate for several years now, and with the housing of the Guantanamo Bay detainees it would be in full effect again. I can empathize with the reality of creating more jobs, but we must keep in mind that as we are trying to identify those within our borders that pose a significant threat to our National Security, we are adding more to that list of security threats. Since ownership of Thomson Correctional Center will be in the hands of the federal government - it’s imperative that the federal government makes sure that they give us the total security as they would give any other federal building that was a target for suspected terrorist activity.