More than 100 Americans brought home

In August 2026, a plane landed at Washington Dulles carrying a former Marine who could talk but could not walk. Robert Gilman had spent more than four years in Russian custody. His advocates said he had been tortured and was near death. President Trump said Russia asked for nothing in return and no exchange took place. Gilman went straight to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

Jesus once told a story about a shepherd with 100 sheep who loses one. He leaves the 99 on the hillside and goes looking for the one, and when he finds it he carries it home on his shoulders, rejoicing. Accountants would call that a bad trade. Parents understand it immediately.

The count

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Gilman joined more than 100 Americans freed in this term. AMAC, citing the State Department, put the number at 109. The exact figure varies because the White House, the State Department and outside groups count a little differently. Some cases made headlines; many never did.

Marc Fogel taught at the Anglo-American School of Moscow. In 2021 Russian police found about 17 grams of medical marijuana in his luggage, prescribed back home for chronic pain, and a court gave him 14 years. On Feb. 11, 2025, after three and a half years, he flew out of Russia with envoy Steve Witkoff. Kuwait freed 23 Americans, mostly military contractors and veterans held on drug and other charges, after hostage envoy Adam Boehler flew out to ask; the U.S. gave up nothing. The Taliban released George Glezmann after 836 days. More than a dozen wrongfully detained Americans came home from Venezuela.

Trades and tallies

Critics raise two real points. Some releases required trades: Fogel came home in exchange for a Russian cybercriminal held in the U.S., and every trade risks teaching regimes that Americans are worth grabbing. And the 100-plus count mixes true hostages with people held on real charges.

Each has an answer. Many of these Americans came home with nothing given: the 23 from Kuwait, Gilman from Russia. The administration also made Iran the first country formally designated a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention, which raises the price of taking Americans. As for the categories, a mother waiting by the phone does not much care which column her son is counted in.

If you travel abroad, do two free things before you go: check the State Department's travel advisory for your destination, and enroll your trip in its Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at travel.state.gov so the embassy can find you in an emergency. The shepherd still has to know which hillside you're on.