Bolstering Efforts To Bring Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States Nationals Home

The order declares a national emergency, determining that hostage-taking and wrongful detention of U.S. nationals abroad constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to national security. It immediately blocks all U.S.-held property and interests of designated foreign persons who are responsible for, complicit in, or materially support such conduct, and suspends their entry into the United States. The Secretary of State is directed to designate or identify foreign government officials involved in wrongful detentions. The Treasury Secretary is authorized to promulgate implementing rules and use all IEEPA powers to carry out the order.

The order also reinforces and expands the roles of the Hostage Response Group, the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, and the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs — extending their interagency coordination, family engagement, and diplomatic functions to cover wrongful detention by foreign state actors in addition to non-state hostage-taking. It does not alter the underlying scope of Executive Order 13698 or Presidential Policy Directive 30, which continue to govern non-state hostage recovery activities.

Foreign persons and entities who take or support the taking of U.S. nationals as hostages or who wrongfully detain U.S. nationals abroad face immediate asset blocking and U.S. entry bans. U.S. nationals wrongfully detained abroad and their families gain formal government support, coordinated communications, and reintegration assistance upon return.

Foreign actors who wrongfully detain Americans now face concrete financial consequences — frozen U.S.-held assets and travel bans — without prior notice. American families dealing with a loved one's detention gain a single coordinated government point of contact, consistent information, and defined support through release and repatriation.

The order runs on two parallel tracks. On the diplomatic-coordination track, the Hostage Response Group convenes regularly to develop and recommend strategies, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs manages case diplomacy and family engagement, and updates flow up through the Deputies Committee to the President. On the sanctions track, the Secretary of State designates direct actors and the Treasury Secretary designates material supporters; once designated, U.S.-held assets are immediately frozen with no prior-notice requirement. Treasury is authorized to write implementing regulations, and recurring reports to Congress are required under IEEPA and the National Emergencies Act.