By David Nakamura
July 17
President Trump met Wednesday with a diverse group of more than two dozen foreigners who have faced religious persecution in their home countries, including a Uighur Muslim from China, where up to a million members of the ethnic minority group reportedly have been jailed.
The meeting, which was not listed on Trump’s public schedule, also included a member of the Rohingya Muslim group in Myanmar, a Tibetan from China, a Jewish Holocaust survivor and a member of the Yazidi, a Kurdish ethnic group in Iraq, as well as Christians from North Korea, Iran and other nations.
“In America we’ve always understood that our rights come from God, not from government,” Trump told the group in the Oval Office, where they were joined by White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Sam Brownback, the administration’s ambassador at large for international religious freedom.
“I don’t think any president has taken it as seriously as me,” Trump said of protecting religious freedoms abroad, even though the White House has faced increasing calls from Congress and human rights groups to penalize Beijing for abuses of Uighurs.
Trump, who had not previously spoken publicly about the Uighurs, has reportedly pushed off economic sanctions amid his administration’s trade negotiations with China.
Human rights advocates, as well as some Trump administration officials, have accused Beijing of jailing the Uighurs in harsh internment camps operated outside the country’s legal system. Chinese leaders have called the facilities “reeducation camps,” citing concerns about domestic terrorism in Xinjiang province.
Trump said his administration plans to announce new measures Thursday aimed at protecting religious minority groups, though he did not provide details. He said Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will deliver speeches on the issue.