Mark Swidan, a Texan who spent years detained in China, has been released and is expected to arrive at Kelly Field. Swidan, who was arrested in 20

Three Americans who the State Department said were wrongfully detained in China for years are back on U.S. soil as part of a prisoner swap, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the deal told ABC News.

Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,” the White House said in a statement. The release comes just two months after China freed David Lin, a Christian pastor from California who had spent nearly 20 years behind bars after being convicted of contract fraud.

China announced Thursday that the U.S. had returned four people to China, including three citizens it said had been held for “political purposes.”

All of them had been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained by China. Officials and humanitarian aid groups said the three Americans were arrested on arbitrary and unlawful charges.