Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who had been detained for months in Russia, was released last Thursday in a one-for-one prisoner exchange with international arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, tweeted, "So happy to have Brittney back on U.S. soil. Welcome home BG!"

President Biden announced her release Thursday morning. "After months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances, Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones and she should have been there all along," Mr. Biden said. "This is a day we've worked toward for a long time. We never stopped pushing for her release."

Bout originally had a 25-year federal prison sentence, but it was cut short and he was sent back to Russia as a condition for Griner’s sentence. Bout, who was being held in a federal prison in Marion, Illinois, was arrested in Thailand by the Drug Enforcement Agency during a sting operation in Shanghai in 2008. He was convicted of trying to kill Americans and started his 25-year sentence 10 years ago.

This swap leaves retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in a Russian prison, where he has been held for nearly four years on espionage charges that the U.S. says are false. Trade negotiations had been working to release both Griner and Whelan, but the Russian government was only willing to release Griner.

On a phone call with CNN Thursday, Whelan said that he was happy that Griner was released but was "greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the four-year anniversary of my arrest is coming up."

"Where are all these people with their other solutions on how we get Americans back?" asked Elizabeth Whelan, sister of Paul Whelan. "What's the alternative? Yes it's terrible to send someone like Viktor Bout back, for sure, but it means we get Americans home."

Some people wonder if prisoner trade swaps do more harm than good. Many people, including people in Congress, thinks this only causes foreign nations to arrest Americans and gain leverage.

"The Russians and other regimes that take American citizens hostage cannot pretend that there is equivalence between the Brittney Griners of the world and people like Viktor Bout, the so-called 'Merchant of Death,'" said Senator Bob Menendez, Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"We must stop inviting dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans overseas as bargaining chips."

Families who have loved ones detained abroad say there has been no evidence stating that this is the case.

"I'm not aware of any concrete evidence that this will encourage more hostage-taking," said Harrison Li, son of Chinese-American Kai Li, detained by China since 2016. "And I think the important thing to emphasize is the executive order that President Biden put out, which is very clear in providing for proactive, punitive measures that can be placed on these countries."

In July, Biden signed an executive order that would allow U.S. government agencies to impose financial sanctions on countries that are unjustly imprisoning Americans. Families say they have not really seen this be implemented.

Griner’s family thanked Biden and his administration in a statement Thursday morning, along with former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and his Richardson Center, who helped with Griner’s release.

"We sincerely thank you all for the kind words, thoughts and prayers - including Paul and the Whelan family who have been generous with their support for Brittney and our family during what we know is a heartbreaking time," the statement said.

"We pray for Paul and for the swift and safe return of all wrongfully-detained Americans."

Griner made it back onto U.S. soil early Friday morning.