President Biden met Monday with the parents of Austin Tice, a freelance journalist and former U.S. marine abducted in Syria nearly a decade ago. In a statement, the White House said Biden pledged to Tice’s family he would continue to work through all available avenues to secure Austin’s release. Tice was working as a freelance journalist in 2012 when he was abducted while covering Syria’s civil war. Later that year, a video posted to a pro-government website showed Tice blindfolded, looking distressed, and surrounded by men armed with machine guns. Earlier this month, his mother, Debra Tice, told Houston Public Media the biggest roadblock to securing her son’s release is no longer the Syrian government. She said, “It breaks my heart to tell you, the Syrians are not the obstacle now. The obstacle is really in Washington, D.C.” Click here to see our interview with the Tice family.