Religious Freedom and Persecuted Christians

Following his Feb. 5, 2026 National Prayer Breakfast speech, President Donald Trump directed the White House Faith Office to host at least six Christians who have faced persecution in countries including Nigeria, China, Turkey, Sudan, Cuba and Vietnam, using the meeting to underscore his claim that no modern administration has done more to aid persecuted Christians. The cohort includes Nigerian pastor Gideon Para‑Mallam, who praised recent U.S. airstrikes on ISIS militants in northwest Nigeria for contributing to what he called one of the most peaceful Christmas seasons in years, and American pastor Andrew Brunson, whose 2018 release from a Turkish prison followed sustained U.S. pressure in Trump’s first term. Also attending are Grace Drexel, whose father Pastor Ezra Jin was detained with nearly 30 other church leaders in a 2025 crackdown on unregistered churches in China; Sudanese apostasy survivor Mariam Ibraheem; Cuban pastor and former political detainee Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso; and Vietnamese Montagnard Christian Y Phic 'Jack' Hdok. In his breakfast remarks, Trump framed the outreach as part of a broader 'mission' that includes U.S. military action, pointing to Christmas Day airstrikes he said 'decimated' ISIS cells that have 'slaughtered Christians' in Nigeria. The event fits into his second‑term pattern of using faith‑based events and the White House Faith Office to blend foreign‑policy signaling, immigration rhetoric and domestic religious‑liberty politics aimed at U.S. evangelical voters.