The closure of Guantánamo Bay is the one campaign promise that President Obama just can’t quite seem to fulfill. Virtually every year, he’s either expressed an intention to end the controversial detention program or presented a doomed plan to Congress. Indeed, though his actions haven’t gotten much attention amid this year’s election frenzy, Obama sent a formal proposal to the House in February, and approved the largest transfer of detainees in his administration’s history in August. But though we’re less than a month from electing a new president, Gitmo is still standing.
John Oliver explored these and other unsuccessful efforts on Sunday night’s Last Week Tonight, noting that at this point, it’s unclear what a closure would even look like. Obama’s current shutdown plan doesn’t even call for the release of the detainees. It only proposes relocating them.
Even so, any action should be considered far more urgent—and especially given the stakes of this election. “While you might be someone who trusts Obama’s judgment, remember: He’s on his way out now,” Oliver argued. “If we don’t shut it down, President Trump could theoretically throw anyone he doesn’t like into Guantánamo.” Given the truly unsettling threats that Trump made just hours after Oliver taped his show, that’s a warning worth taking seriously.
