Paul Whelan helps craft bill to compensate Americans wrongly detained abroad

(CNN) — Rep. Haley Stevens on Thursday is expected to announce a new bill meant to help Americans detained abroad when they return to the United States.

For Paul Whelan, who was detained for more than five years in Russia, it is an announcement that has been years in the making.

Whelan has spoken out about the challenges he faced when he got back home to Michigan, where Stevens is his congresswoman.

“For people like me who have come home after five-and-a-half years, we really don’t have very much. House is gone. Cars are gone. Employment’s gone. No health insurance,” he told CNN in 2025, a year after he was freed from Russia.

He and Stevens have been working on the bill, named in Whelan’s honor, in the years since.

The bill would provide compensation, in the form of a lump sum of money, to those who had been wrongfully detained abroad.

Whelan called the legislation “a huge step forward in ensuring that all American citizens who are wrongfully detained in the past, present, and future will be properly taken care of once they return home.”

Stevens said in a statement that the “legislation will make sure Americans who endure this unimaginable ordeal have the support and resources they need to regain their footing, reunite with their communities, and rebuild their lives.”

“After enduring months or even years of wrongful detention, Americans shouldn’t have to face back taxes, late fees, lost income, and financial instability when they come home,” the Michigan Democrat said. “Paul Whelan’s experience showed our country the extraordinary toll wrongful detention takes not only during captivity, but long after someone returns home.”

According to the legislation, the funds would be paid from “unobligated balances of the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund.”

Individuals who travel to countries that the State Department has listed as “Level 4: Do Not Travel” or have a travel advisory with the D indicator, meaning citizens are at risk of being detained if they go there, will broadly not be eligible for compensation, the text of the bill says. There are exceptions for those who were there on official travel or in the capacity of a journalist.

Trevor Reed, who was wrongfully detained in Russia for nearly three years, also celebrates the legislation. Both Reed and Whelan traveled to Russia before it was listed as a Level 4: Do Not Travel country.

“When I came home, I really panicked for a while trying to find out how I was going to rebuild my life savings and I still haven’t recouped those losses,” he told CNN. Reed also said his parents emptied their retirement accounts to try to help him.

“It’s very difficult for people in that situation and this bill allows those Americans time to get back on their feet,” he said.

Both Whelan and Reed said they think the legislation could have a deterrent effect, with Whelan noting that “if our citizens knowingly visit a rogue nation the State Department warns against us visiting and they are taken hostage, State will work diligently to bring them home, but they would not be eligible for compensation under the Act.”

A spokesperson for Stevens said her office worked on the legislation with both Whelan and “leading organizations that work closely with Americans who have been wrongfully detained and their families, including the Foley Foundation and Hostage US.”

“Both organizations are supporting the legislation,” the spokesperson said, adding that they engaged with the State Department and the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs as the legislation was being developed.

The State Department does not comment on pending legislation.

It is unclear when the bill being introduced in the House will come to a vote.

“Congresswoman Stevens’ priority is building bipartisan support and moving the legislation through the legislative process as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said. “She is working with colleagues to build support for the bill and identify opportunities to advance it.”

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