Fact-Check: Trump Is Wrong About Guantánamo Detainees<br />According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, of the 714 former Guantánamo Bay detainees who were transferred to other countries by Jan. 15, 2017 —<br />dating back to when the Bush administration opened the prison in Cuba in January 2002 — 121 are "confirmed" to have engaged in militant activity after their release.<br />One reason is that most of the former Guantánamo detainees in the world departed the prison under<br />Mr. Bush: 532 of the 714 former detainees who left the prison alive departed under Mr. Bush.<br />Mr. Obama made a late push to get the number of men on a list of those recommended for transfer — many of whom were low-level Yemeni prisoners who languished with<br />that status for years because Yemen was in chaos and there was no good place to send them — resettled in stable countries.<br />But it is also true that in terms of percentages, Bush-era releases have been more likely to cause problems than Obama-era releases: About 35 percent of Bush-era transfers are confirmed<br />or suspected of causing problems, while about 11.5 percent of Obama-era transfers fall into one of those two categories, according to the intelligence director’s office.<br />But Mr. Trump has repeatedly called for a halt to transfers, suggesting<br />that the five men left on the transfer list — and anyone else the parole-like board may add to it — face an uncertain future.<br />Most such wartime prisoners appear to have settled into peaceful lives,<br />but it may take time for it to become clear whether any particular one has successfully reintegrated into society or has drifted — or drifted back — into Islamist militancy.
