United States President Barack Obama on Tuesday presented Congress with a plan to close down the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, a facility in Cuba that has housed terror suspects since 2002 and has been known for widespread human rights violations. Closing Guantanamo Bay has been one of Obama’s biggest promises during his two terms as president, having announced the decision in 2009.

According to the White House’s plan, the 91 detainees remaining in the facility are to be transferred to prisons in their home countries, or in US civilian or military prisons, the BBC reported. According to the CNN, Obama said clearing out the prison would allow the US to move on from “a troubled era of wartime behaviour”. Obama claimed that closing the facility would “close a chapter in [the US’] history”.

However, Republican members of the US Congress such as Speaker Ryan Paul immediately criticised Obama’s plan, saying it was against the law to transfer “terrorist detainees” to American soil. Some of them believe that releasing prisoners from there would lead them to go back to terror activities. They said the White House’s current plan was vague and “fails to provide critical details required by the law”.