Gitmo Detainees To Move North

Late last night news broke that the Obama administration plans to transfer detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison to a correctional center in Illinois.

An administration official told TPMDC last night:

On Tuesday, the administration will announce that the president has directed that the federal government proceed with the acquisition of the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Illinois to house federal inmates and a limited number of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Closing the detention center at Guantanamo is essential to protecting our national security and helping our troops by removing a deadly recruiting tool from the hands of al Qaeda. Tuesday's announcement is an important step forward as we work to achieve our national security objectives.

Gov. Pat Quinn and Sen. Dick Durbin will get a White House briefing Tuesday afternoon on the decision. They are among the supporters who say using Thomson would create new jobs.

Like everything, there are political consequences here as Senate candidate Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) has been the most vocal opponent to the idea. Other Republicans are balking as well.

But as we reported a few weeks ago, an unlikely coalition of conservatives are backing the plan.