Today, Pres. Joe Biden has signed an emergency Executive Order (EO) on Americans who have been wrongfully detained overseas. The EO will allow the US to impose sanctions on countries that are holding Americans hostage illegally. The EO pulls on the authority granted to the president under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act . The EO also emphasizes the government's commitment to supporting families of Americans wrongfully detained or held hostage overseas.
Countries with high risk of detaining Americans will be designated with the letter "D". Starting Tuesday, the first countries to receive this additional risk indicator will be China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela, another senior administration official told reporters. The "D" indicator joins the existing "K" indicator that covers the risk of kidnapping and hostage-taking by non-state actors, as well as a range of other existing risk indicators.
Today Biden sent the following message to Congress detailing the new order.
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order declaring a national emergency with respect to hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of United States nationals.
Hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of United States nationals are heinous acts that undermine the rule of law. Terrorist organizations, criminal groups, and other malicious actors who take hostages for financial, political, or other gain -- as well as foreign states that engage in the practice of wrongful detention, including for political leverage or to seek concessions from the United States -- threaten the integrity of the international political system and the safety of United States nationals and other persons abroad. I have determined that hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of United States nationals abroad constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.
I am enclosing a copy of the Executive Order I have issued.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
THE WHITE HOUSE, July 19, 2022.