The White House
Fact Sheets
September 5, 2025
COUNTERING WRONGFUL DETENTIONS: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to enhance efforts to protect U.S. nationals from wrongful detention abroad by authorizing robust responses against foreign governments engaging in such practices.
- The Order empowers the Secretary of State to designate any foreign country as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention based on their involvement in or support for wrongful detentions of U.S. nationals.
- It directs the Secretary of State to take appropriate actions with respect to designated countries, including sanctions, inadmissibility of nationals from those countries, travel restrictions, export controls, and other measures under existing laws, to deter and respond to wrongful detentions.
- The Order allows the Secretary of State to terminate a designation if the foreign government releases wrongfully detained U.S. nationals, has demonstrated changes in leadership or policies with respect to wrongful detention, and provides credible assurances against future violations.
- The Order also applies to entities controlling significant territory, even if not recognized as governments, to address non-state actors involved in wrongful detentions.
SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN CITIZENS: President Trump is addressing the growing use of wrongful detentions by foreign adversaries as a coercive tactic to undermine U.S. sovereignty and leadership.
- Under the Biden Administration, our adversaries learned that they could take Americans as bargaining chips and that little to nothing would be done about it.
- Biden’s weakness resulted in 24 more Americans taken captive than rescued in four years.
- Wrongful detentions violate the rule of law and exploit American citizens, with cases like Marc Fogel’s detention in Russia lasting over three years.
- This Order gives the Secretary of State the ability to leverage existing tools against those adversaries to protect Americans abroad and proactively combat this coercive tactic.
UPHOLDING AMERICAN SOVEREIGNTY: President Trump is committed to bringing every American that is wrongfully detained abroad home.
- President Trump has consistently advocated for a strong, America First foreign policy that deters adversaries from targeting U.S. nationals.
- Since returning to office, President Trump and his Administration have secured the release of 72 detained Americans abroad, including:
- Marc Fogel—an American teacher who was wrongfully detained in a Russian prison for years—returned home in February, making good on a promise President Trump made to Fogel’s 95-year-old mother, Malphine.
- Ksenia Karelina—an American ballet dancer who was wrongfully detained in a Russian penal colony for 14 months—returned home in April.
- Keith Siegel—an American held hostage by Hamas for 484 days—was freed in February.
- George Glezmann—an American held by the Taliban in Afghanistan for 836 days—was freed in March, joining Americans Ryan Corbett and William McKenty, who were released on the night of President Trump’s inauguration.
- Edan Alexander—a U.S.-Israeli dual citizen who was held hostage by Hamas for 584 days—returned home in July.