Sessions says Guantanamo should be kept open

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump's selection for attorney general Sen. Jeff Sessions is expressing his support for keeping open the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detention facility.

He says he believes it's a safe place to house suspected terrorists captured overseas and should continue to be used.

That perspective differs from the viewpoint of the Obama administration, which has transferred prisoners to other countries in hopes of ultimately closing it.

The Justice Department in the last eight years has moved to bring militants captured abroad to American courts, rather than placing them in Guantanamo and treating them as military detainees.

Sessions also says he does not support a ban on Muslims entering the United States.

Trump proposed a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants during the Republican primary campaign, drawing sharp criticism from both parties.

During the general election, he shifted his rhetoric to focus on temporarily halting immigration from an unspecified list of countries with ties to terrorism. Trump did not disavow the Muslim ban, which is still prominently displayed on his campaign website.