"[I]f we capture any of them alive, they are getting a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and we are going to find out everything they know," Rubio told the sixth nationally televised Republican debate on Thursday night.
Rubio’s remark was the only reference to the Guantanamo issue in the more than two hour debate of the seven Grand Old Party (GOP) frontrunners in opinion polls.
"The most powerful intelligence agency in the world is going to tell us where they are; the most powerful military in the world is going to destroy them," he said.
Earlier on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said he was preparing a new scheme for President Barack Obama to remove some of the 93 detainees still being held in Guantanamo to facilities within the United States.
In his Tuesday State of the Union address, Obama said he would continue working to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, a pledge he has been trying to fulfil over congressional opposition since taking office in January 2009.