Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin has joined 40 sheriffs in opposition to housing suspected terrorists in Colorado.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the County Sheriffs of Colorado sent a letter to President Barack Obama demanding that no current inmate at Guantanamo Bay be transferred to Fremont County prisons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey shouldn\u2019t be moved to Colorado,\u201d Nowlin told The Journal on Wednesday. \u201cWe just don\u2019t need that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nowlin said Colorado prisons were already home to terrorists and drug kingpins, and additional such types of inmates would be a strain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe it would be dangerously naive not to recognize that a civilian prison with an untold number of enemy combatant inmates, located in our state, would provide a very tempting target for anyone wishing to either free these detainees or simply wishing to make a political statement,\u201d the letter says.<\/p>\n
A supermax prison in Florence houses Zacarias Moussaoui, a 9\/11 conspirator; Faisal Shahzad, linked to the 2010 Times Square car-bombing attempt; and Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.<\/p>\n
Calling the move too political, La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith chose not to sign the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m focused on what\u2019s going on with the citizens in our county,\u201d Smith told The Durango Herald. \u201cIf I felt like it would create adverse risks for us, I would get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Associated Press has reported that about 50 detainees in Cuba are eligible for transfer, but Congress would have to approve that decision, which appears unlikely.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Department of Defense has no authority to transfer these prisoners or make such modifications and they have made no case that it makes sense to do so,\u201d Sen. Michael Bennet said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is outrageous, and I\u2019ll do everything I can to stop it,\u201d U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman stated.<\/p>\n
The Pentagon reportedly is considering sites in Kansas and South Carolina.<\/p>\n
When running for president, Obama vowed to close the Cuba facility. Former President George W. Bush opened the facility after the 9\/11 attacks.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Colorado AP reporter Kristen Wyatt pointed out via Twitter that the sheriffs\u2019 letter contained typos, including the misspelling of Fremont County, \u201cFreemont.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMore fun typos in the sheriffs\u2019 letter,\u201d Wyatt wrote in a subsequent Tweet. \u201cMr. President, we deplore you to reconsider your plans\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The word \u201cimplore\u201d substituted for \u201cdeplore\u201d would have been grammatically correct.<\/p>\n