Strengthening Efforts To Protect U.S. Nationals From Wrongful Detention Abroad

The order authorizes the Secretary of State to designate any foreign country whose government wrongfully detains a U.S. national as a "State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention." Designation can be triggered when a wrongful detention occurs on the country's soil, when the government refuses to release a detainee after being notified, or when the country's conduct — including patterns of detaining third-country nationals — shows broader complicity. Upon designation, the Secretary must review available authorities and, as appropriate, implement responses including IEEPA sanctions, visa inadmissibility actions, U.S. passport travel restrictions to the designated country, cuts to foreign assistance, and restrictions on arms and export-controlled goods.

The order also sets termination conditions: the Secretary may lift a designation once the government releases wrongfully held Americans, demonstrates leadership or policy changes, and provides credible assurances it will not repeat such conduct — or whenever the President directs. The order expressly states it does not imply that every U.S. national detained in a designated country is formally classified as wrongfully detained under the Levinson Act.

U.S. nationals held abroad whose detention may trigger or affect a designation; foreign governments facing potential sanctions, visa restrictions, and export controls; Americans who might be barred from traveling to designated countries by passport restriction; and entities receiving U.S. foreign assistance or arms exports from designated countries.

Foreign governments that detain Americans face a structured escalation of economic, diplomatic, and travel penalties rather than ad hoc responses. Americans planning travel to a designated country could lose the right to use their U.S. passport there, and aid and trade flows to designated governments could be cut off.

The framework operates in two stages. First, the Secretary of State makes an independent judgment to designate a country using the criteria in Section 2; no automatic trigger compels designation. Second, once a country is designated, the Secretary is required to review available legal authorities and take implementing steps — choosing from a listed menu of sanctions, travel restrictions, and export controls — as appropriate and consistent with law. Designation is reversible when release, policy reform, and credible assurances are all demonstrated, or at the President's discretion. No court-enforceable rights are created.