In a statement released Saturday, Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said closing the Guantanamo Bay prison facility would be a victory for terrorists.

The conservative senator warned that terrorists “would spread violent extremism from within our borders” if the the current push to close the controversial prison was successful.

“It appears to me this latest push to close GITMO is because the terrorists have begun a hunger strike,” Inhofe said. “Specifically, the far left has used this as a rallying cry to revive their continuing obsession with closing the base despite strong support from Congress to keep GITMO open. But this misses the fundamental point. Is this hunger strike not a political act designed to attempt to change American policy? My question to the far left is: if you close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay are you not letting the terrorists win?”

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The hunger strike at Guantanamo continues to grow. About one-quarter of the detainees are now being force fed by military medical teams in violation of international human rights laws.

Inhofe’s statement came after Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and John McCain (R-AZ) called for the “safe and orderly transition of the detainees to other locations.”

Obama in late May called on Congress to remove restrictions that prevented the administration from transferring Guantanamo detainees to other countries or imprisoning them in the United States.