The White House arrests Christians who persecute Christians from China, Cuba, Nigeria
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FIRST ON FOX: The White House welcomed a delegation of persecuted Christians around the world Thursday following President Donald Trump’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, Fox News Digital has learned.
The White House Faith Office, led by senior adviser Pastor Paula White-Cain and religious director Jenny Korn, will welcome at least six Christians who have been persecuted in their countries, such as China, Nigeria and Cuba, Fox News Digital has learned.
The White House meeting comes as Trump spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday morning, which draws hundreds of lawmakers from both sides of politics, business leaders and foreign dignitaries every February to discuss faith and pray for the nation’s future.
Trump said at the hearing that “no administration in modern history has done more to address the plight of persecuted Christians around the world than we have.”
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The White House hosted a group of persecuted Christians after President Donald Trump delivered his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 5. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty ImagesArchana Thiyagara/AFP/Getty Images)
“It’s a job. It’s actually a job. On Christmas Day and in close cooperation with the Nigerian government – we worked with them, but they started to get tougher – I ordered a powerful air strike to eliminate the ISIS terrorists who have been killing Christians in that country by the thousands. It’s unbelievable. We hit them hard,” said Trump.
Among the persecuted Christians attending the White House meeting are: Pastor Gideon Para-Mallam from Nigeria; Grace Drexel, who faced persecution in China; Pastor Andrew Brunson, who faced persecution in Turkey; Mariam Ibraheem, who faced persecution in Sudan; Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso of Cuba; and Y Phic “Jack” Hdok from Vietnam.
President Trump speaks during the National Morning Prayer at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, on Feb. 5, 2026. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Para-Mallam, a Nigerian pastor who founded the Gideon & Funmi Para-Mallam Peace Foundation, has worked with survivors of attacks on Christians in the nation and leads advocacy and humanitarian efforts in some of Nigeria’s hardest-hit communities.
The US launched airstrikes in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas Eve against ISIS terrorists whom Trump accused of killing Christians, Para-Mallam said, leading to “one of the most peaceful Christmas seasons for Nigerian Christians in recent history.”
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The group includes the Reverend Andrew Brunson, an American pastor who spent more than two decades ministering in Turkey before his arrest in 2016 for what supporters said was a hoax. His high-profile case ended with his release in 2018 after Trump pushed for it.
Andrew Craig Brunson, an evangelical pastor from Black Mountain, North Carolina, arrives at his home in Izmir, Turkey, in 2018. (AP Photo/Emre Tazegul, File)
Grace Drexel is the daughter of Pastor Ezra Jin, who was arrested in China on Oct. 10, 2025, alongside nearly 30 other church leaders in what supporters described as a massive crackdown on unregistered churches. Mariam Ibraheem attracted international attention after a Sudanese Shariah court sentenced her in 2013 to 100 lashes and death by hanging on charges of apostasy after leaving Islam while pregnant.
Cuban pastor Barroso, who said he was imprisoned 21 times and sent to a concentration camp for his faith before fleeing Cuba in 2016, and Y Phic “Jack” Hdok, a Montagnard Christian lawyer who fled Vietnam in 2018, are participating.
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The meeting comes just before the one-year anniversary of the founding of the White House Faith Office on Feb. 7, 2025. Trump launched the White House Faith Office by executive order, tasked with leading the executive branch of outreach to religious groups, community organizations and houses of worship.
The White House in Washington DC with a blue sky. (Patrick Semansky)
In honor of the celebration and as lawmakers and others gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast, the Faith Office said “there are 150 reasons why President Trump is the most liberal, pro-life, pro-religious president in American history.”
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“He defended religious freedom and affirmed faith in America. He has fought against Christianity, antisemitism, and other forms of anti-religious discrimination while dismantling the government’s weapons against all people of faith. He has expanded school choice, protected parents’ rights, restored biological truth, uplifted families, ended the illegal and divisive DEI policies, stopped the taxpayer, restored speech on the side of the Office of Israel, restoration of speech in the Office said about Trump.
