OCEANSIDE — There has been little talk of the relocation site for Guantanamo, Cuba, detainees since Camp Pendleton made the short list as a possible site in January. There also was no discussion at the City Council meeting Feb. 18 when a motion to send a letter of opposition on relocating detainees to Camp Pendleton was tabled due to the lack of a second.
Councilman Jack Feller made the motion that the city write a letter objecting to Guantanamo prisoners being relocated to Camp Pendleton. “Many of the cities in North County are asking the congress to prohibit this from happening,” Feller said. “It can’t really hurt us to say as the city of Oceanside we too agree with that. The citizens deserve to be comfortable.”
With no second, discussion was closed.
Following the meeting, Mayor Jim Wood said he had spoken to Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein’s San Diego staffs about the matter. “We already told our officials,” Wood said. “Their staff understood the issue.”
Concerns raised by detainees being relocated to Camp Pendleton are numerous. Camp Pendleton is in a populated area close to the border of Mexico, which makes it a more likely target for terrorists crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The base is a training site and not designed to be a detention facility. Furthermore Oceanside would have to stretch its resources and provide higher police protection if there are protesters.
Wood said that he will express his concerns to representatives about the possible relocation of detainees to Camp Pendleton along with other issues during his trip with city staff to Washington, D.C., Feb. 24 to Feb. 27.
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