Continuing a trend from his first term, President Donald Trump has freed dozens of Americans wrongfully detained abroad throughout the first nine months of his second term.
In total, the Trump administration has secured the release of at least 73 Americans since January, including some who had been held in foreign prisons for multiple years. Though the corporate media has been reluctant to report on it, freeing American citizens remains one of Trump’s most underappreciated legacies that underscores his expertise as a negotiator – his famous mastery of “the Art of the Deal.”
In his most recent noteworthy success, Trump brought home Amir Amiry, an American citizen held by the Taliban in Afghanistan since December 2024. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s National Security Adviser, called the release “an important step forward” but added that “President Trump will not rest until all our captive citizens are back home.”
That victory came on the heels of an executive order that the President signed in early September which “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,” according to a White House fact sheet. Countries and individuals under this designation may face sanctions, visa denials, and other legal repercussions. The administration also blasted the Biden administration for sending a message to the world that U.S. adversaries could use American citizens as “bargaining chips.”
Leading up to that executive order, Trump had already negotiated several other high-profile prisoner releases.
In January, just days after Trump took the oath of office for the second time, Venezuela released six Americans following a visit from Richard Grenell, Trump’s envoy for special missions.
In February, under U.S. pressure, Hamas released Keith Siegel, an American-Israeli who had been held hostage for 484 days in Gaza. In a statement, Seigel’s family thanked President Trump and said they were filled with “indescribable joy.”
That same month, Trump secured the release of Marc Fogel, a history teacher who had been detained in Russia since 2021 – fulfilling a promise the President made to Fogel’s 95-year-old mother on the campaign trail last year. “I would like to thank him profusely. He promised me he would get him out — and he kept his promise, and I can’t thank him enough,” Fogel’s mother said in an interview with Fox News.
In March, Delta Air Lines mechanic George Glezmann, who had been held captive in Afghanistan for more than two years, said that he felt like he was “being born again” after his release. He had been wrongfully detained by the Taliban for 836 days.
In April, American ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina returned home after she had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for donating to a Ukrainian charity that helps children orphaned by Putin’s war. “Mr. Trump, I am so, so grateful for you to bring me home and for the American government. And I never felt more blessed to be American,” she said.
In May, Kuwait added 10 American names to those already released in previous months, bringing the total to 23 Americans freed from its prisons due to the diplomacy of President Trump and his administration. According to U.S. envoy Adam Boehler, Kuwaiti officials said that they had “never been asked before at this level” to release prisoners. Notably, the releases were done purely as a gesture of goodwill from Kuwait, and the United States was not asked to give up anything in return.
In July, Edan Alexander, a U.S.-Israeli dual citizen who was held hostage by Hamas for 584 days, also returned home.
These names are just a small sample of the full list of Americans who are now free thanks to the efforts of the Trump administration. One former high-ranking diplomat, who spoke to me anonymously, told me that the Trump administration has displayed “a level of precision and determination in diplomacy that is unmatched by any other government.”
Elizabeth Richards, director of research at the Foley Foundation, which advocates for the return of Americans unjustly imprisoned abroad, told Newsweek in June that her organization was “tracking more returns for this year than in all of 2024.” That’s another massive feather in President Trump’s diplomacy hat.
Still, as the Trump administration is adamant about recognizing, the job is not finished. While estimates vary, there may be as many as 200 or more Americans still wrongfully detained abroad in nations like Afghanistan, Russia, Venezuela, and China.
An example of the cruelty of such detentions can be seen in the case of Gao Jia, a seven-year-old U.S. citizen. He has been denied exit from China because his father, a U.S. permanent resident, was detained on charges related to his political activity as an artist. Jia has been unable to attend school for a full year.
“The Beijing regime inflicts harm and persecution on entire families, including innocent mothers and children,” Professor Kai Diefenbach, who negotiated the release of hostages and political prisoners as the German envoy in the 1980s, told me. Like Soviet Russia, China “enforces a policy of group responsibility.”
But with Trump back in office, Jia and prisoners like him have hope. Trump’s commitment to securing the release and safe return of Americans wrongfully detained abroad, as well as his compassion for their families, is the ultimate display of “America First.” Whatever dark hole or hellish conditions American citizens may find themselves unjustly trapped in, they can at least know that they have a President who is determined to see them free again.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.
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