Trump signed an executive order to sanction governments that unjustifiably detain US citizens

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that officially created the "state sponsor of wrongful detention" designation, which may be used against those foreign regimes that unjustifiably detain U.S. citizens or support those non-state actors who execute these practices. "We've gotten a lot of people out and we'll continue," Trump said during the signing of the order in the Oval Office.

In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the move by the president an "unprecedented action to impose new consequences on those who wrongfully detain Americans abroad." Similarly, Rubio detailed that the designation could be accompanied by a series of "severe penalties," including "economic sanctions, visa restrictions, limitations on foreign assistance and travel restrictions for U.S. passport holders." Finally, the Secretary of State commented in his statement that "No nation should want to end up on this list. The bottom line: Anyone who uses an American as a bargaining chip will pay the price."

As detailed by the ABC, several Republican administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the media outlet that the designation could apply not only to internationally recognized governments that detain U.S. citizens, but also to other entities that control huge territories, such as the Taliban in Afghanistan. Said officials added that it will be the Secretary of State who will have the power to officially impose such designation, as well as to cancel it in the event that the entity sanctioned by the White House shows signs of improvement or cooperation.

The network detailed that while officials did not indicate how quickly the Trump administration planned to implement this new designation, it would not be long. "The point of the president signing this executive order is that there will be action," one of the officials told ABC.