Republicans and Democrats in Congress should come together to secure the release of Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who has been imprisoned in Mexico since March 31, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra told
Newsmax TV's "America's Forum."
The administration of President Barack Obama should also be involved in trying to get Tahmooressi freed, Hoekstra said. Mexican officials arrested the Marine after he crossed into Mexico with guns in his possession. Tahmooressi claimed he entered the country by accident.
Story continues below video.
Note: Watch Newsmax TV now on
DIRECTV Ch. 349 and
DISH Ch. 223
Get Newsmax TV on your cable system –
Click Here Now
"This is something that should be very, very much a bipartisan issue — Republicans and Democrats coming together to help Andrew and get Andrew back home," Hoekstra said Friday. "The administration . . . should be reaching out to the government in Mexico and facilitating in doing everything that they can to get Andrew released."
Tahmooressi's mother, Jill, told "America's Forum" on Friday that she had heard nothing from Obama administration officials, except from "the local Tijuana U.S. Consulate Services." She said she feared her son would be transferred back to a less secure prison where his life could be endangered.
"I was disturbed by a phone call two nights ago with the judges asking that he'd be returned to La Maso, where his life was threatened constantly," she said.
Tahmooressi said her congresswoman, Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, contacted her in July to tell her she had "signed on" to
a House resolution that called for his "immediate release."
Tahmooressi said 350 signatures were needed to get a vote in the House on the resolution.
Hoekstra said members of Congress should be doing more to show support for Tahmooressi's release.
"They should be reaching out to Jill and having a discussion with Jill about what Jill would like to see done, and what she believes, and what their legal team believes would be the most appropriate action to get the kind of result that we want," he said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.