AUSTIN, Texas — The U.S. government has taken another step to try to bring home a Texan who has been detained in China for more than a decade.
The full U.S. Senate has unanimously approved a resolution that calls for Mark Swidan's immediate release. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) spoke about Swidan on the Senate floor Wednesday.
"Mark is being unjustly held by the Chinese Communist Party as a hostage," Cruz said. "The CCP tells us that China is a great power, but this is how third-world thugs and dictators act."
Swidan has been held in China since 2012 on drug-related charges that independent review panels have said are false. Despite a lack of meaningful evidence in the case, a Chinese court sentenced Swidan to death in 2018 – a sentence that was upheld last month.
The United Nations has previously concluded that Swidan was detained on an arbitrary basis, in violation of federal law, and the U.S. House passed a resolution in April demanding that the People's Republic of China immediately release Swidan.
On Wednesday, KVUE's Quita Culpepper spoke with Mark Swidan's mother, Katherine, who lives in Luling. She said she hasn't been able to talk to her son for five years and said the government told her they have to wait.
But she said she knows time is running out to save his life.
"I don't know what deals are on the table. I don't know what the Chinese want. I don't know anything," Katherine Swidan said. "They've always asked me – always told me to be silent. 'Don't say anything. You will make it worse.' Well, what could be worse than he is right now?"
She hopes that these resolutions show China that they U.S. won't back down so that her son can come home.
In previous statements, the U.S. State Department has said it will continue to press for Mark Swidan's immediate release.