"The United States of America has the capacity to solve this problem," Earnest said during a press briefing. "What we need now is just the political will of members of Congress to allow the administration to do it."
Earnest’s remarks come as the US Department of Defense has been trying to find possible sites in the United States to move the prisoners.
The Obama administration has said it plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by the end Obama’s term in office.
Earnest noted that the United States already hosts "dozens of convicted terrorists" in prisons on American soil.
"Our goal has been to find a responsible way to transfer all the detainees from the prison at Guantanamo Bay and that means continuing on our ongoing efforts to find appropriate places with appropriate measures in place to transfer detainees to other countries," Earnest said. "But it may be given the complexity of some of those cases necessary to transfer some individuals to the United States."
The Defense Department recently sent teams to US military barracks in Kansas and South Carolina to assess the possibility of moving the Guantanamo detainees there. However, lawmakers from those two states have opposed hosting the Guantanamo detainees.
Since taking office in 2009, Obama has released or transferred well over half of the detainees from the Guantanamo Bay facility. Hundred and sixteen detainees still remain at the detention facility.
