81R9535 BPG-D
By: Estes S.C.R. No. 21
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, President Barack Obama signed an executive order on
January 22, 2009, ordering the closure of United States detention
facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within the year; and
WHEREAS, Under this executive order, suspected terrorists
now confined to the detention center will be returned to their home
country, released, transferred to a third country, or transferred
to another United States detention facility; Lackland Air Force
Base in San Antonio is among the military installations being
considered by the House Armed Services Committee as potential sites
for the relocation of enemy combatants detained at Guantanamo, and
news accounts have also mentioned the El Paso Processing Center
operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a possible
transfer location; and
WHEREAS, The Department of Defense has estimated that the
terrorism reengagement rate has reached 11 percent among those
Guantanamo detainees previously released from custody or
transferred to prisons elsewhere in the world and that some 61
former detainees are suspected or confirmed to have returned to
terrorist activity; clearly, such individuals are too dangerous to
be permitted on Texas soil; and
WHEREAS, Ensuring the safety of all citizens is the highest
responsibility of government, and federal tax dollars should not be
used to bring a potential threat into the Lone Star State; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby urge the Texas congressional delegation to take action to
prohibit the use of federal funds to transfer enemy combatants from
Guantanamo Bay to any facility in Texas or to build or modify
facilities for any such enemy combatants in this state; and, be it
further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the
senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the
Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.