During a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, the Department of Defense Special Envoy for Guantanamo closure, Paul Lewis, said that Americans have lost their lives due to inmates currently held at the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Lewis was being questioned by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R., Calif.), who chairs a subcommittee, when he admitted what detainees had done, the AP reports.
"What I can tell you is, unfortunately, there have been Americans that have died because of [Guantanamo] detainees," Lewis said.
"When anybody dies, it is a tragedy. We don't want anybody to die because we transfer detainees," Lewis said. "However, it's the best judgment and the considered judgment of this administration and the previous administration that ... we should close" the Guantanamo detention center.
There has been heavy criticism of transferring Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States. Inmates who come to the United States would be granted extra rights that they do not receive in Guantanamo Bay and pose an extreme danger to the American public should they escape.