BERKELEY, Calif., Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The Berkeley, Calif., City Council says it will vote on whether to invite Guantanamo Bay detainees cleared of wrongdoing to resettle in that city.
The resolution vote, scheduled for Feb. 15, would formally invite two of the 38 detainees who have been cleared, a Russian ballet dancer and an Algerian national who worked in Italian restaurants in Austria, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday.
"Our hearts are with all those people who were never tried, held for years and in some cases tortured," said Wendy Kenin, chairwoman of the city's Peace and Justice Commission, which created the resolution. "As a municipality, this is one thing we can do to right some wrongs of our federal government."
Although the plan is for non-profit agencies to help the former detainees find work and assimilate into the East Bay community, there is a roadblock: The Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act of 2011, signed by President Obama on Jan. 7, prohibits the United States from funding the relocation of cleared detainees, the Chronicle said.
This leaves both men, Djamel Ameziane and Ravil Mingazov, in limbo, having no passports, no visas no money and no jurisdiction wanting them except for Berkeley and some cities in Massachusetts that have passed similar resolutions.
Berkeley City Councilman Gordon Wozniak is not in favor of the resolution, saying the city has enough problems without taking on the plight of tortured terror suspects.
"This seems like grandstanding to me," he said. "I'm not sure why the Peace and Justice Commission is taking this up, other than to get on Fox News."
