A year ago, Paul Whelan stepped foot on American soil for the first time in 51/2 years and joined a small but "distinguished" club of returned detainees who, like Whelan, were held abroad against their will.

That club is growing with 71 Americans brought home just since President Donald Trump took office in January, according to State Department figures.

Whelan, 55, is in touch with several others who have returned from detention, saying their regular chats, meals, texts and other support have made his sometimes rocky readjustment to civilian life feel more normal.

"They understand what it’s like to come back and have to deal with governments and employers and the tax man and all those sorts of things," Whelan said.

Most people don't understand. Getting back to “normal” after more than 51/2 years as a political hostage in Russia has been a sometimes infuriating journey through American bureaucracy, insurers and job applications for Whelan.

He was arrested while in Moscow for a friend's wedding on Dec. 28, 2018, on what he and U.S. officials long decried as bogus espionage charges. Convicted in a closed-door trial in Moscow in 2020, the former U.S. Marine was sentenced to 16 years of hard labor.

He was held for 2,043 days: Five years, seven months and five days spent “wrongfully detained,” as the U.S. government declared him.

A year ago, he was yanked from the labor camp in remote Mordovia and set on a journey that landed him home on Aug. 1, 2024, as part of a historic prisoner swap ― the largest such exchange since the Cold War, covering 24 people from six countries.

Whelan’s flight from Russia was personally greeted by President Joe Biden, who embraced Whelan on the tarmac at an Air Force base in suburban Washington, D.C., along with two other wrongful detainees: Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, both of them journalists who had been held by Russia.

After a stint in Texas for medical tests and counseling, Whelan settled back in Michigan, living with his parents, Rosemary and Ed Whelan, in the village of Manchester in rural Washtenaw County, having lost his home in Novi, where he had lived for 20 years.

He's overall improving. He sleeps better, finally getting used to no longer being awoken by guards every two hours overnight. He also ignores a lot of the media reports on Russia to instead focus on local issues.

He still experiences some post-traumatic stress when staying in a hotel room while traveling because a hotel room was the scene of his violent arrest in Russia, he said. He advises other returned hostages to remember the moment but not to dwell on it.

"I always joke that, once I got back, I was putting the chest of drawers and tables and chairs in front of the door in case somebody came in, and it's kind of tongue-in-cheek dark humor," Whelan said. "But every time I'm in a hotel room, I'm thinking about that."

He went through an arduous appeals process to get on Medicaid health insurance with the state after proving his U.S. citizenship, but he's found it doesn't cover much.

Whelan also appealed his denial of unemployment benefits with Michigan but found state law to be inflexible for someone in his situation. While sympathetic, officials said he didn't meet the state requirements for a minimum amount of wage earnings in previous months or years ― which, of course, he couldn't meet because he was forced to work without pay in a Russian labor camp.

While held in Russia, Whelan also lost his job as a security executive for the global auto parts giant BorgWarner when the company eliminated his position less than a year after his arrest.

A year after his return, Whelan said he is looking for full-time employment and doesn't have health insurance that covers his PTSD. He's found some part-time work in security and investigations but primarily is relying on the donations of friends and strangers to his GoFundMe page, he said.

He has had some prospective employers ask about the circumstances of his arrest in Russia, which he must endeavor to explain.

"Not everybody understands the concept of wrongful detention or arbitrary detention. Some companies have policies against hiring people who have been in prison, rightly or wrongly," Whelan said.

"There are some organizations I've interviewed with which understand the situation, and I'm hoping to have a job offer one of these days soon."

He's focused on jobs in the security sector, but he's also looking at public service and community-based organizations where he could make a difference and "sort of pay back the assistance that I had from the community" while overseas, rather than sitting in a corporate office "worrying about what the shareholders think."

A year later, Whelan said he still hasn't heard from BorgWarner, whom he previously described as “un-American” for cutting him off and never advocating publicly for his release.

Whelan has said he wouldn’t be in this rut of no income, insurance or home if BorgWarner hadn’t eliminated his position in 2019 while he was locked up in Russia. The company said last year it was “relieved” that Whelan is home but refused to answer questions about why the business eliminated his job.

"While the purpose of Mr. Whelan’s trip to Russia in December 2018 was personal and not business-related, BorgWarner provided him with financial and other support through the duration of his employment with the Company while he was unjustly detained," the company said last fall.

"BorgWarner continues to wish Mr. Whelan well and does not intend to comment further on this private matter."

Whelan has done speaking engagements through a professional speakers bureau, talking about resilience and how the human mind can overcome dark situations, he said. He's also working on a book about his experience as a political hostage, plugging away on an outline and searching for a publisher, he said.

However, other former hostages have also written about their experiences recently, he noted.

"I think people will be interested in my story," Whelan said. "But in general, if you go to the book rack at your local bookstore and you see 10 different hostage stories, it might be difficult, standing out from others. But I think the story in Russia is one that is interesting to people."

Whelan also hasn't given up on advocacy for other detainees, pushing for the Trump administration or Congress to provide them with up to five years of medical, mental health and other support upon their return home, as proscribed in the 2020 Robert Levinson Act.

Congress has never funded the provision, and the State Department has told Whelan it has no mechanism for providing him such services ― an answer they've repeated for the past year whenever he asks, Whelan said.

"I'm lucky that my dentist has been quite generous, helping with dental care, and several doctors that have volunteered to assist with medical issues," Whelan said.

"They don't seem to look at it as being a priority. I don't know how hard it would be for them to just put us on the State Department insurance program or to have some sort of government program for the five-year period that they could just add us all to, if needed. But they're not doing anything at all, which is kind of the frustrating piece."

Whelan wants to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss these issues and with Trump to talk about the overall hostage program. While it's wonderful that the United States is striking deals to get so many detainees back, they need assistance once they're home, Whelan said.

He pointed to Texan Mark Swidan, who was held for 12 years in China and who has "absolutely nothing" while living with his elderly mother.

"The longer you're gone, the less you have when you come back — the more you lose your career, your house, cars, your investment savings were all used for legal help and resources and whatnot," Whelan said.

"Those of us that were held longer actually need more help, and we're looking toward the government to provide that. ... People like me, we were held simply because Russia had a grudge against America. It had nothing to do with me personally."

U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, a Michigan Democrat who represented Whelan when he was first arrested, said she is still in touch with Whelan and trying to help him rebuild his life.

Stevens said she's actively working on legislation that would involve compensation or benefits for returned detainees who "lose out on so much" just because they were carrying an American passport.

"He's remained such a beacon for hope and inspiration, and I pinch myself almost every day thinking about how amazing it is that he got released and he's back in Michigan," Stevens said of Whelan.

"I’m really proud of him and very much inspired by him, but it’s clear that what happens to people who are wrongfully imprisoned, detained, is you come back to a steep hill to rebuilding your life, a whole new life you were separated from for over half a decade."

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