Washington (AP) – President Donald Trump On Friday, he signed an executive order that allowed the United States to designate the nation as a national sponsor for illegal detention, using the threat of related sanctions to prevent Americans from being detained overseas or being held hostage.
Similar specifications to Designated national sponsors of terrorism What the US has already imposed on several countries would allow the State Department to target countries that fall under the label with penalties such as economic restrictions. Visa Restrictions Due to American officials and travel restrictions to these countries.
“A nation should not want to be on this list, like a national sponsor of a terrorist resolve,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
It is intended to impose penalties on countries that block or suppress Americans, and to impose large penalties on countries that do not release American citizens.
“With this EO you’re signing on today, you’re drawing a line in the sand that US citizens won’t use negotiation tips,” Sebastian Gorka, senior director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council, told Trump when he signed the order at the White House on Friday afternoon.
This designation is designed to allow Rubio to lift penalties if it changes its practices.
It was not immediately clear when the US would begin applying the new label and which countries it would begin to apply, but two senior administrative officials who spoke on condition of anonymity before it was signed cited China, Afghanistan, Iran and Russia as countries that could face penalties under the new designation.
With this order, the designation can also be applied to groups that control the territory, even if the government is not recognized.
GlobalLeach, a nonprofit organization that advocated the return of Americans who were mistakenly detained, praised the executive order.
“The designation places real teeth behind the efforts of the US government to take detained Americans home and prevent the troubled country from engaging in “hospital diplomacy.” The Trump administration is taking action, and it shows results.
Trump made sure to bring Americans who were imprisoned abroad home in his second semester.
“We’ve got a lot of people, we’ll continue,” Trump said Friday.
In July, his government organized a swap of three countries, securing the release of 10 imprisoned US citizens and permanent residents from Venezuela in exchange for returning home. Deported by the US To El Salvador.
Seven other Americans have been returned this year who have decided to be mistakenly taken into custody in Venezuela.
As part of the prisoner swap, a Russian-American woman convicted of treason for making a $52 contribution from Moscow in April made a $52 contribution from Moscow. A similar exchange in February released an American teacher who was detained in Russia on drug charges.
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Associated Press Writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
