Families of U.S. citizens detained abroad gathered in front of the White House on Wednesday to call for a meeting with President Joe Biden, pointing out that he has refused to sit down with many families throughout his administration.
The Biden administration worked fervently to release basketball star Brittney Griner, with the president meeting with her family and that of Paul Whelan, who is still detained in Russia. The Bring Our Families Home Campaign highlighted that although their hostage families may be “non-famous,” they should not have to campaign for Biden’s attention.
U.S. citizens currently detained abroad include Airan Berry, Luke Denman, Eyvin Hernandez and Jerrel Kenemore in Venezuela; Shahab Dalili, Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz in Iran; Kai Li, David Lin and Mark Swidan in China; Majd Kamalmaz and Austin Tice in Syria; Zack Shahin in the United Arab Emirates and Whelan in Russia.
The families sent a joint letter to Biden, saying, “having a loved one held hostage is hard enough without having to also campaign for your attention.” They believe the Biden administration could do more to ensure that every wrongfully detained citizen abroad is brought home. (RELATED: Foreign Countries No Longer Fear Messing With American Citizens Abroad)
Shargi has been detained in Iran since 2018 and was convicted on espionage charges. Hannah Shargi, his daughter, has been campaigning for her family to speak to the president, telling the Daily Caller she does not know why Biden won’t hold the meeting and that “there’s not much of an excuse at this point.”
“We want to meet with him. We need to meet with him. I know as the president, he has the power and the ability to bring my dad home. There’s no time to waste,” Hannah Shargi told the Caller.
The families also held a vigil for detainees in Georgetown, D.C., on Tuesday night alongside recently-returned hostages.
Hostage families meet for vigil in Georgetown. Daily Caller
“President Biden, ultimately the recovery of our fellow Americans rests in your hands. Deploy the governmental resources available to you to bring our people home,” said Trudy Rutherford, the aunt of Matthew John Heath, a hostage who returned home from Venezuela.
“I would additionally encourage you to talk to each and every hostage and wrongful detainee family. Why each one? Because each case and each family is different. But, more importantly, you need to demonstrate that all detained individuals and their families are important and deserving of your attention … Mr. President, feel the pain, work past the difficulties, put in the effort and continue to bring people home,” Rutherford added.
A reporter pressed the Biden administration on how the president decides which families to meet.
“The president meets with families in – going through these horrific sorts of circumstances much as the president engages in other sorts of meetings, which is he can’t do everything, but he does want a firsthand sense of what things are like in the areas that he works so hard to address,” a senior administration official said, adding that “you can’t do it all when you’re the president.”