President Donald Trump’s administration has secured the release of 11 U.S. hostages held by foreign governments since taking office less than one month ago, according to the White House.
The Trump administration has emphasized arranging the release of U.S. hostages under his second administration and welcomed U.S. Marc Fogel, a U.S. history teacher who had been detained in Russia since 2021, back to the U.S. Tuesday.
Other hostages released since Trump’s inauguration include six Americans detained in Venezuela, two Americans detained in Belarus and Israeli-American citizen Keith Siegel, who was held hostage by Palestinian militant group Hamas. There are at least two living American citizen hostages believed to be held in Gaza.
By comparison, former President Joe Biden said in 2024 his White House secured the release of more than 70 hostages during his four years in office, according to an August 2024 statement. Fox News Digital didn’t find any available data to compare numbers from Biden’s first month in office.
Trump claimed to have helped release 58 in his first term as president.
There were 46 American nationals known to be held captive in 16 different countries in 2024, according to the nonprofit Foley Foundation, which advocates for U.S. hostages and was named after James Foley, a U.S. journalist kidnapped while reporting in Syria in 2012 and killed by ISIS in 2014. That number is now likely closer to the low 30s after the recent releases of hostages in January and February.
On Tuesday, Trump met with Fogel, who was arrested in August 2021 at a Russian airport for possessing drugs and was slated to serve a 14-year sentence. Fogel’s family said the drugs he had on him were medically prescribed marijuana.
‘I want you to know that I am not a hero in this at all,’ Fogel said Tuesday after meeting Trump. ‘And President Trump is a hero.
‘These men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes,’ Fogel said. ‘The senators and representatives that passed legislation in my honor — they got me home — they are heroes.’
Following Foley’s return and after announcing the release of another, unnamed hostage held in Belarus Wednesday, Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler said Trump ‘has made bringing Americans home a top priority, and people respond to that.’
The names of most of the hostages released in February have not been publicly shared.
‘President Trump is committed to freeing Americans held hostage and returning them to their families,’ Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said in a Friday statement to Fox News Digital. ‘To date, President Trump has secured the release of 11 Americans who were detained by the Taliban, Hamas, Venezuela, Russia and Belarus.’
Just before Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20, both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration coordinated to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which included provisions to release dozens of hostages on both sides.
Biden and Trump separately boasted about their individual efforts to secure the deal, and State Department spokesman Matthew Miller described the Trump administration’s involvement as ‘critical’ to getting the deal over the finish line.
Trump also touted his administration’s involvement in a social media post Jan. 15, claiming it occurred ‘as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies.’
Although Biden said the two teams had been ‘speaking as one team’ during the negotiations, he also mocked suggestions that Trump was responsible for securing the ceasefire deal.
‘Who in the history books gets credit for this, Mr. President, you or Trump?’ Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich asked Biden Jan. 15 after a White House news conference.
‘Is that a joke?’ Biden said.
When Heinrich said it was not, Biden replied, ‘Oh. Thank you.’
The Associated Press and Fox News’ Emma Colton and Landon Mion contributed to this report.
