LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press
KATHLEEN HENNESSEY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the detention center at Guantanamo Bay undermines America’s national security and needs to be closed.

Watch the President’s statement here.

Obama says the detention center is counterproductive in the fight against terrorism because it’s used as propaganda to recruit terrorists and drains military resources.

The White House released Obama’s plan to close the facility on Tuesday, but the plan faces stiff opposition from the GOP-led Congress.

The plan calls for transferring remaining detainees to the United States and seeks up to $475 million in construction costs that would ultimately be offset by as much as $180 million per year in operating cost savings. It does not specify where in the U.S. the detainees would go.