Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) on Thursday voiced his support for legislation that would prohibit individuals detained in the United States from being indefinitely detained or transferred to a foreign country.

“Our Constitution is in many ways the most powerful weapon we have against those who mean us harm,” he said.

Due Process Guarantee Act of 2011 was proposed in response to controversial sections of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 regarding the detention of terrorism suspects.

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“While this administration has said it won’t hold American citizens or lawful permanent residents in military custody, that is the interpretation of only one president,” said Udall, who sits the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees

“That policy won’t tie the hands of future administrations,” he noted. “The indefinite detention provisions threaten to undo much of the progress the FBI and law enforcement have made to stop terrorists plotting in the United States and overseas, and it seems to make it more difficult to collaboratively gather intelligence on domestic terror cells at all. The last thing we should be doing is preventing local, state and federal authorities from investigating and acting on threats to our safety.”

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