House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) predicted on Sunday that President Obama will take executive action to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
{mosads}Obama has long promised to close the prison, but has been stymied in part by Congress and a law that blocks moving detainees to the United States.
But McCaul predicted that Obama could get around Congress.
“I do think you’re going to see an executive action coming down to close down Guantanamo,” McCaul said on “Fox News Sunday.”
McCaul, like many lawmakers, said moving the detainees to U.S. prisons would open up the possibility of attacks and be “highly reckless and irresponsible.”
However, the chairman noted that Obama has taken executive action on other issues and that they have been hard to stop.
“He’s done this before and it’s hard to stop this kind of action,” he said.
Public opinion would be the best hope of stopping the actions, McCaul said.
“I would hope the American people would rise up in numbers so strongly” that Obama will back down, he added.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that President Obama is considering executive action to close the prison, but appears not to have decided yet.