There are no official statistics on how many Americans have been wrongfully detained in foreign countries, but it seems to be somewhere between 60 and 150. These are the Americans that are being held by foreign governments. There are many, many more that are being held by terrorist groups.
The number is on the rise. State actors such as China, Iran and Russia are targeting U.S. nationals to exert political leverage over Washington. In order to get these Americans home, there is an emerging threat to national security, given the steep price foreign governments typically demand for a captive's release. As a result of the increase in Americans being detained, the state department has added a new risk indicator to travel advisories- the "D" indicator- to warn citizens about the risk of wrongful detention.
Six countries account for 2/3 of the cases. They are Iran, China, Venezuela, North Korea, Syria and Russia. In 63% of the cases a wrongful detention has ended in a release, rescue or escape. Negotiations during the first year are critical. Those held for more than four years have only a 7% chance of ever returning home.
Little known are the name of the American detained abroad, despite their years' long plight, but now, a work of art unveiled in Georgetown puts names and faces to those in captivity, which will be visible to tens of thousands.
There is no good answer to this problem. Releasing known killers, gun traffickers and the like to get an American citizen home is what is being done. My heart goes out to Americans being wrongfully detained, and hope we get them all home.
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