Washington D.C., CNN, Sept. 17, 2026
Rep. Haley Stevens on Thursday announced 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.”
