The mother of American reporter Austin Tice told a congressional panel on Tuesday that she is convinced her son is still alive, nearly 12 years after he was abducted in Syria at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus.
Debra Tice told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that her information about her son’s status isn’t “just wishful mom talk.”
“Austin is alive and no doubt eager to walk free,” she said. “It would not be prudent for me to share the source.”
Mr. Tice, an award-winning journalist and former U.S. Marine Corps officer, was among eight Americans detained abroad who were represented on the panel by family members or supporters at a special congressional event Tuesday. At least 50 Americans are believed to be held hostage by hostile governments like Syria or Russia, officials said.
“One hostage is too many and we’re seeing a trend now. It is becoming a practice of foreign governments to take hostages in exchange for a trade,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Texas Republican.
He criticized the Biden administration for conducting what he called one-sided trades, such as the case of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer nicknamed the “Merchant of Death.”
“We traded Viktor Bout, one of the world’s most notorious arms dealers, for Brittney Griner — a basketball player who had a vape pipe,” Mr. McCaul said. “If we’re going to do trades, it should be fair [and] not lopsided. That only encourages more hostage-taking.”
Ms. Tice urged the Biden administration not to shut off avenues of communication with governments holding Americans hostage.
“The United States government needs to be free to engage foreign governments, diplomatically, economically and intellectually in order to advance the interests of the United States,” she said.
Rep. French Hill, Arkansas Republican, helped establish the Congressional Task Force on Americans Wrongly Detained Aboard in 2021. He said every branch of the U.S. government should focus on bringing detained U.S. citizens home and prevent governments and non-state actors from abducting Americans as captives in the first place.
“That’s a goal that our government can do, which is act effectively,” Mr. Hill said. “Having a loved one taken hostage aboard is unimaginable.”
American businessman Ryan Corbett was abducted by the ruling Taliban in August 2022 while he was in Afghanistan, working to strengthen the country’s private sector. His wife, Anna Corbett, told the congressional panel that the ordeal has caused her to question the government’s interest in securing his release.
“The State Department took 14 months to designate Ryan as wrongfully detained, based on a minor policy decision that should have been resolved in hours or days, not months,” Mrs. Corbett said. “Little to no information is shared with me. The information coming out of the White House has slowed to a trickle.”
New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs panel, said advocating for the release of wrongfully detained Americans should not be a partisan issue.
“This is not about politics. This is about getting your family members home,” he said. “We can never rest until they are home. It is unimaginable to me the pain that you go through every day.”