Illinois Prison Could House Former Guantanamo Detainees

The Obama administration is looking to a mostly unused prison facility about 150 miles west of Chicago as a possible home for detainees from Guantanamo Bay, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The plan has the support of key Democrats in the Senate, and would bring as many as 3,000 jobs to the Thomson, Ill. area.

"This is an opportunity to dramatically reduce unemployment, create thousands of good-paying jobs and breathe new economic life into this part of downstate Illinois," Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. "We should not let the unsupported and misplaced fears of a few stand in the way of this historic economic boost to our region."

The administration faces legal difficulties in deciding where to take the detainees, about 100 of whom would go to the Thomson Correctional Facility if the plan is successful. Obama would have to find away around laws that prohibit such a move unless it is part of a trial.