WASHINGTON -- Republicans amped up opposition on Thursday to President Barack Obama's plan to close the prison camps at Guantánamo Bay, even as Attorney General Eric Holder sought to reassure senators that the United States won't release anyone it considers a terrorist.

Holder's remarks came during a Senate budget hearing in which Democratic and Republican senators sought reassurance about the administration's plans to relocate the 241 detainees now confined to the offshore detention camp.

Across the Capitol, House GOP leaders introduced what they called the ''Keep Terrorists out of America Act,'' legislation aimed at thwarting the administration's efforts to close the controversial detention camps. It would require a state governor or legislature to first approve any transfer or release of a detainees into that state.

''The world suddenly did not become safer on Jan. 20, 2009,'' House Minority Leader John Boehner told reporters. ``Our constituents don't want these terrorists in their neighborhoods.''

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell carried the message to the Senate floor, saying Republican concerns ``are rooted in the fact that Americans like the fact that we haven't been attacked at home since 9/11, and they don't want the terrorists at Guantánamo back on the battlefield or in their backyards.''

HUNDREDS RELEASED

Of the 779 people who have been imprisoned at Guantanamo, 538 already have been released or transferred to other countries for detention or trial, the vast majority of them by the Bush administration.

Holder told the Senate the administration has three task forces looking at how to handle the detainees. He didn't rule out detainees being brought to U.S. soil, but he promised Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., that the agency would consult with state and local officials if it decided to use any U.S. facilities. Mikulski supports Obama's plan to empty the prison camps.

''Paramount in our concern is the safety of the American people,'' Holder told Mikulski. ``We are not going to put at risk the safety of the people of this country. And any determination we make with regard to the disposition of any of these individuals.''

The Miami Herald reported Sunday that ''not-in-my-backyard'' debates are taking place near Charleston, S.C., and other communities around military bases over whether the detainees should be transferred to their areas. Obama has ordered the camps closed by Jan. 22. He said the closure will improve U.S. standing around the world.

But Republicans circulated news releases with pictures of 10 of the best-known Guantánamo detainees and accused Obama of seeking to fulfill a campaign pledge without first developing a plan for ``hundreds of the world's most dangerous terrorists.''

''We are trying to solve an image problem at the expense of human lives,'' said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs said he hadn't yet seen the House bill.

In addition to requiring approval from state governments, the bill would also require ''strict criteria and certification standards'' before a detainee could be brought to the United States.

`ON A SAFE BASIS'

Holder told Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby that the U.S. would not release anyone it considers a terrorist, but added, ``some [detainees] are going to be released. Some are going to be tried. Some will be detained on a fairly extended basis.

``And so those who will be released are those who we think can be released and be released on a safe basis.''

At issue, in part, is the definition of a terrorist. The Obama administration has said it is willing to bring to the United States some of 17 Uighur Muslims at Guantánamo whose release a federal judge ordered last year.

The Uighurs are citizens of China who fear persecution if they are returned to their homeland.

The Bush administration's Justice Department concluded last year that the Uighurs were no longer ''enemy combatants'' and were eligible for release. But some GOP leaders have continued to cast them as terrorists.

Just this week, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., long an advocate of Uighur rights, wrote to Obama expressing his ''grave concern'' that their release onto U.S. soil ``could directly threaten the security of the American people.''

Miami Herald staff writer Carol Rosenberg contributed to this report.

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