In a letter to President Joe Biden on Monday, relatives of more than two dozen American hostages and unjust prisoners detained abroad questioned his administration's commitment to bringing their loved ones home.
The family members complained in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that the administration looked to be "locked in burdensome processes or policy debates that prevent our loved ones from returning home and leave us in the dark about what you can and cannot do to aid us."
Biden administration accused of not prioritizing prisoner releaser
The letter underscores rising hostage community concerns that the Biden administration's foreign policy strategy does not prioritize prisoner release and that legal and political moves have hampered rather than improved attempts to free hostages. In some cases, the families believe they are in a "worse" circumstance now than they were eight months ago, according to the letter to Biden.
The United States left Afghanistan without returning Mark Frerichs, an American contractor, abducted there in early 2020. Following the extradition to the US on corruption charges of a businessman who authorities claim was a significant conduit for wrongdoing by President Nicolás Maduro's inner circle, six American oil executives who had been under house arrest in Venezuela were sent back to jail this month.
Per NY Post, families that signed the letter have relatives in Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Mali, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Syria, and Venezuela who are jailed or held prisoner.
While the families expressed gratitude for being in a conversation with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in February, many of their situations remain unchanged, according to the letter.
The families complained that they have been unable to meet with Biden or National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to discuss their various captivity situations. According to the families, this leads them to believe that "your administration is not emphasizing discussions and other strategies to secure their release," according to the families.
President is pressured to do more for the detainees, hostages abroad
They include the mother of Trevor Reed, a Marine sentenced to nine years in prison after a Moscow court found him guilty of assaulting a police officer, and the family of Paul Rusesabagina, whose heroics during the Rwandan genocide inspired the movie 'Hotel Rwanda,' but who is now imprisoned in his home country on trumped-up charges, according to his supporters.
The James W. Foley Foundation, founded after journalist James Foley, who was held hostage for over two years before being murdered by ISIS, issued a letter describing their initial hope in Biden. Biden's predecessor used hostage negotiations to demonstrate his capacity to strike deals.
Last year, former President Trump invited six rescued hostages to the White House to record a video for the Republican National Convention to promote his unconventional approach to resettling Americans.
There was also a high-level expedition to Damascus in an attempt to locate journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in Syria in 2012. Biden has been pressed to accomplish more.
This concern has only worsened in the last week, after 17 American and Canadian missionaries and their families were abducted after being pushed from a bus in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The head of the Haitian gang that kidnapped them has threatened to kill them unless he receives a $1 million ransom for each of them, Daily Mail reported.
Related Article: Joe Biden Ignores Afghanistan Questions During 90-Minute Town Hall; White House Cleans Up Multiple of President's Comments
