Trump signs executive order to blacklist countries that illegally detain Americans
President Donald Trump signed an executive decree establishing an “sponsor of the unjustified state of detention” on Friday, a decision designed to exert pressure on countries that illegally hold Americans.
The decree will give the secretary of state Marco Rubio the capacity to impose sanctions on the designated countries or to order other sanctions, according to a senior administration official.
“We draw a very clear delimitation today, a line in the sand,” said the manager, speaking on condition of anonymity to inform journalists before the announcement. “You will not use Americans as negotiation schools.”
The official refused to say how much the Trump administration issued sanctions or visa restrictions against these accused countries. Details on the number and locations of the Americans who are detained abroad are not published by the United States government. But according to the Foley Foundation report in 2024, the total number of Americans detained hostage or wrongly detained was at least 54 countries in 17 countries, including Iran, China, Russia, North Korea and Venezuela.
Paul Whelan, who was wrongly detained in Russia for more than five years before being released in 2024, said that the executive decree was “a good start and would be a powerful means of deterrence if he was really applied against thug diets such as China and Russia”.
Whelan said he was thinking that Trump should also get compensation for those who are really wrong and use frozen diets for thug diets for this purpose.
“We have to dissuade hostage taking and ensure that once at home, hostages are supported correctly,” Whelan told NBC News. “The American government could do much better in two respects.”
A similar decree was issued by the Biden administration in July 2022 declaring the unjustified ownership and hostage of the Americans a national emergency. Under this order, prohibitions and visa sanctions could also be issued against individuals and associated actors. At the time, the State Department also decided to call offended countries, issuing a special indicator on travel notices – the letter D – to warn Americans to go to them.
Under the Trump administration decree, countries could also face sanctions to support non -state actors or terrorist groups who hold Americans hostage inside their borders.
“Everything is changing with regard to diets and thugs diets who think that Americans can be treated like pawns,” said the senior administration.
A second senior administration official declared that the order will allow the administration to impose on the designated countries the same measures that it could bring against the sponsors of state terrorism.
“This is an extension of the opening against which we can use this tool,” said the second manager. “You don’t need to finance Hamas, Hezbollah or Al-Qaeda. You can just try to exploit our citizens wrongly.”
As part of its wider deterrent efforts, the Trump administration also plans to restrict the Americans to go to some countries, officials said. Similar measures were taken by the Trump administration in 2017 when American passport holders were prohibited from going to North Korea after the death of the American citizen Otto Warmbier.
