Remarks by President Trump in Meeting with Survivors of Religious Persecution | Eastern North Carolina Now

    MS. ZHANG: I'm a Falun Gong practitioner. My husband, now, is still in prison.

    THE PRESIDENT: Your husband is in prison.

    MS. ZHANG: Yeah. And the forced organ harvesting still exists. So we should take action. Just the (inaudible), it doesn't work. So how to - how to do this action in the communist - Chinese communist regime.

    THE PRESIDENT: And where is this, now? Where? Where is your husband a prisoner?

    MS. ZHANG: Now my husband in Jiangsu - Jiangsu - Province of Jiangsu and Suzhou prison. And, you know, 2018 - last year - yeah, last year - one of our practitioners, after three years in prison, he was released home. And in just one day, he died. And before that, he (inaudible) a large amount of blood.

    As you know, you are -

    THE PRESIDENT: He - did you say he died?

    MS. ZHANG: Yeah, he died - another Falun practitioner, where he is still also in the Suzhou prison.

    So, as you know, I know your one young man from the North Korea come back to U.S. and, several days after he returned, and he died. And you know the regime, what they do. So what should we take to act?

    THE PRESIDENT: Yes. I understand.

    MS. ZHANG: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

    THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate it.

    MS. ZHANG: Thank you. Thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.

    MS. ZHANG: Thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. You take care of yourself.

    Paula?


    MS. WHITE: Mr. President, it's such an honor. And I just have to say, on behalf of you and your courageous leadership - I have watched, from day one and even before you took this office, you be a relentless fighter for people of all faiths and religious liberty.

    We see it on stateside - from you saying we can say "Merry Christmas" again; to the DOJ passing laws that no other administration could pass to give high holy days to all religions to be able to take off of work and to honor that; to, as the Ambassador said, this is the second but the largest in the world gathering for religious liberty freedom.

    You have taken a bold, courageous stand that many governments have (inaudible). You have over 16 countries represented here. You have approximately 27 people. But I was in the room yesterday with thousands, and we had thousands that could not get in.

    THE PRESIDENT: I heard that was incredible.

    MS. WHITE: So we thank you, President, for being the leader - the courageous leader to stand up not only in our nation, but countries all around, for all faith, of all people that we should have the practice and the right to practice our religion.

    Thank you, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. And I did hear that they had thousands of people that couldn't get in yesterday.

    MS. WHITE: From all over the world.

    THE PRESIDENT: That's incredible. Wow. I'm sure we'll get a much bigger room, I guess, or a tent or something.

    AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Or something like that.

    MR. AHMED: May I say a few words?

    THE PRESIDENT: Yes, please.

    MR. AHMED: Mr. President, thank you from New Zealand.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.

    MR. AHMED: Thank you for your leadership, standing up for humanity, standing up for religious groups and their rights. And thank you - thank you for supporting us in the 15 March tragedy in Christchurch. And God bless you. And God bless the United States.


    THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. And you went through a lot. I know all about what happened, and that was a terrible situation. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

    MR. TASEER: Mr. President, I'm from Pakistan.

    THE PRESIDENT: Yes, please.

    MR. TASEER: And you are meeting our prime minister -

    THE PRESIDENT: That's true.

    MR. TASEER: - in three days. I would be very grateful if you would raise with him the issue of persecuted Christians in Pakistan - the blasphemy law and people who are suffering under this law.

    THE PRESIDENT: I'll do that. He's coming in next week, on Tuesday.

    MS. SAHA: Sir, thank you. Sir, I am from Bangladesh. And here is 37 million, the Hindu, Buddhist, and Christianity (inaudible). Please help us, the Bangladesh people. We want to stay in our country.

    THE PRESIDENT: Bangladesh.

    MS. SAHA: Yeah. Still, there is 18 million minority people. My request is: Please help us. We don't want to leave our country. Just help, Mr. President.

    I have lost my home. They burned my home. They've taken my land. But no adjustment has taken place.

    THE PRESIDENT: Who took the land? Who took the home and the land?

    MS. SAHA: The Muslim fundamentalist group. And they are - always they are getting the political shelter. Always.

    AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: I know the President has to get on. So I want to -

    THE PRESIDENT: I don't mind. We can take a couple more.

    AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Can you? Okay, good.


    THE PRESIDENT: The helicopter - has it landed? The helicopter - have we landed out there yet? Huh?

    AIDE: No, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: No? Come on.

    MS. ILHAM: Mr. President, one to three million Uyghur population are locked up in concentration camps in China, including my father, who is now serving a life sentence. I haven't seen him since 2013.

    THE PRESIDENT: Where is that? Where is that in China?

    MS. ILHAM: That's in west part of China. The region - in Chinese, it's called "Xinjiang." We call it "Uyghur region." So far, we had -

    THE PRESIDENT: How long? How long has your father been gone?

    MS. ILHAM: He has been in jail for five years, and we don't know how long he will still be in there.

    THE PRESIDENT: Do you have any communication with him?

    MS. ILHAM: I haven't heard about him since 2017, because that's when the concentration camps started. Anyone who goes to ask about anybody's family members' news will never make their way back to their own homes.

    THE PRESIDENT: That's tough stuff.

    Go ahead please.

    MR. ULLAH: Good afternoon, Mr. President. I am a Rohingya from (inaudible). So most of the (inaudible) Rohingya refugees are waiting to go to - go back home as quickly as possible. So what is the plan to help us? So thank you very much.

    THE PRESIDENT: And where is that, exactly? Where?

    MR. ULLAH: Bangladesh refugee camp.

    AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: That is right next to Burma.

    THE PRESIDENT: I see.

    AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: The Rohingya have been run out.

    THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it.

    Yes, please.