Rep. proposes U.P. to house Gitmo detainees

Moving prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula could either be a smart economic move or a dangerous plan, state officials said.

During the Mackinac Policy Conference last week, U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, spoke about a letter he sent to President Barack Obama in February, suggesting a Manistique, Mich., prison as the new home for more than 200 Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Although plans have not been made to move the suggestion forward, state officials are sounding off.

“Michigan can base its economic future off of more than importing 240 of the most dangerous people in the world to the U.P.,” said U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Holland.

Safety was not a concern for residents in Stupak’s district, said Nick Choate, a spokesman for Stupak.

“Safety was not an issue they raised,” Choate said. “They are more interested in the economic benefits of it.”

Economic benefits such as job creation at the prison would help the local community and the state, said state Rep. Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard.

“We do have the highest trained, most professional correction officers in the state, (maybe) in the world,” McDowell said. “We need to look at (the proposal) … It would really help our state in this time.”

Until he receives support from more federal and state officials, Stupak will not push the proposal, Choate said.

“At this point, that broad base of support does not exist,” Choate said.

Stupak pitched the proposal to Obama in response to the president’s plans to consider closing the Guantanamo Bay facility.

“Obviously nobody wants these people,” Manistique Mayor David Peterson said. “No one wants them in their backyard, and that’s the key to this whole thing.”

Any offer to the city would be considered, Peterson said.

“We just have to hear an offer, if there is an offer and what the conditions are,” he said. “(And then decide) is it safe or is it not safe?”

Moving detainees to the state will endanger residents and put them at risk, Hoekstra said.

“The fundamental question is, ‘Why?’” he said. “Why move them? It just does not make us safer.”

Concerns for the safety of prison workers against potential outside aggression should play a role in the decision to move detainees to the state, Hoekstra said.

Those who might be sympathetic to radical jihadists could come into Michigan communities and endanger the lives of prison workers and other residents, he said.

“The threat to the community increases,” Hoekstra said. “Not because of prisoners getting out, but because
of the people who will go
there trying to make a statement.”

Camp Manistique, the proposed prison, was closed in 2007 and has a capacity to hold more than 200 prisoners.

“I think next year on June 1, we’ll still be talking about the prison facility at Gitmo,” Hoekstra said.

The press office of U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., declined to comment, citing that they were “too busy” to make a statement.

Levin previously has said he believes the proposal should be considered, so long as state officials were open to it. He heads the Senate Armed Services Committee.