Kansas attorney general asks Trump to keep Guantanamo detainees out of state

Derek Schmidt is asking Donald Trump for help.

Just days after Trump was elected president, the Kansas attorney general has written to the Republican in hopes of keeping Guantanamo Bay detainees far from continental U.S. soil.

Schmidt and his counterparts in Colorado and South Carolina sent a letter to the president-elect Tuesday asking him to “ensure detainees are not transferred to the United States.”

“...We respectfully request that you raise this issue personally with President Obama and procure his commitment that the outgoing administration will not seek to close Guantanamo or transfer any current detainees to our homeland,” the three attorneys general wrote in the letter.

President Barack Obama has talked often during his time in office about closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay.

But the Republican majority in Congress has worked to keep that from happening. Despite the Obama administration’s stance, lawmakers have banned the ability to spend money to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees into the United States.

Schmidt’s letter is his latest opposition to the proposed closure of the prison in Cuba. In September, Schmidt publicized a Freedom of Information Act request that he had sent to the federal government.

The document he obtained through that request showed the Department of Defense spent about $26,000 to review whether three sites, including Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, could house Guantanamo Bay prisoners.

This story was originally published November 15, 2016 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Kansas attorney general asks Trump to keep Guantanamo detainees out of state."