President Obama’s high-profile mention in his State of the Union address of the need to close Guantanamo Bay detention facility and lift restrictions on detainee transfers brings renewed urgency to an unfulfilled promise.

Dealing with Guantanamo and its remaining 155 detainees presents thorny problems, but tackle them the nation must.

It has been five years since the president signed an executive order to close the prison, an effort essentially abandoned after federal lawmakers passed — and the president signed — legislation imposing restrictions on moving detainees out of the prison.

During his speech Tuesday, Obama called on Congress to rescind restrictions forbidding the transfer of detainees to the U.S., and blocking the use of federal dollars for domestic incarceration.

Some 75 detainees have been designated for transfer and others could be as well. But the potential to change prisons is only a stopgap for those who are being held indefinitely without charges.

Indefinite detention runs counter to this nation’s civil liberties legacy. At some point, even detainees considered dangerous will have to be tried or released.