STATE OF UNION | Trump signs order to keep Gitmo prison open

January 30, 2018 at 9:21p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP)

The White House says President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order to keep the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay open.

Trump said during his campaign that he wanted to keep Guantanamo open and “load it up with some bad dudes.” But the White House announcement just before Tuesday’s State of the Union address marks a formal reversal of President Barack Obama’s eight-year effort to close the detention center.

The order preserves military detention as a counterterrorism tool by keeping the prison open.

President George W. Bush opened Guantanamo after Sept. 11 to hold and interrogate suspected enemy combatants. At its peak in 2003, it held about 680 detainees.

Bush transferred about 500 out before leaving office. Obama transferred 197 detainees out, leaving 41.