Remarks by President Trump in Cabinet Meeting | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Speaking in traveling, we are - speaking of traveling, we are blessed to have with us Scott Turner, who is the executive director of the council. And he has been all over the place. He's - every place I go, they say, "Scott was here, and he just told us all this stuff." (Laughter.) He fertilizes the ground and it's great.

    And through the work of the Revitalization Council, we're not only remembering Americans' [sic] forgotten men and women, we're helping to elevate them back into a path of pride and self-sufficiency.

    And what really is opportunity? Opportunity has no color, but it colors everything. Opportunity has no creed, but it gives people strength to believe. Opportunity has no religion, yet it gives us each faith. And I want to thank you for the faith that you've shown to the Revitalization Council as we have championed this incredible initiative across the country. This is a game changer. Major game changer in this country. And we look forward to building on this exciting momentum.

    You know, I'm very excited. I may not look excited; this is about as excited as I ever look. (Laughter.) But I am very excited about being able to participate in something that's going to have such a positive effect on so many people in our country. And I want to thank you for pushing this.

    And I'd like to hear just a bit from our council's executive director, Scott Turner.

    MR. TURNER: Good morning. Or good afternoon. Thank you, Dr. Carson, and thank you, Mr. President, for allowing me to serve in this role. And then, Cabinet members, it's good to see you all again.

    I looked up that term, "revitalize." And to revitalize means to imbue with new life. It means to reinvigorate and to reenergize. And that's exactly what we've seen over these last 12 weeks. We were here 12 weeks ago tomorrow, and when the President appointed me to be the shepherd of this council.

    In the last 12 weeks, we've been to 21 cities. And we have a map that we're going to put up for you just for your visualization. These are the cities that we've been to, and these are the cities that we will go to. And you can look at it after a while.

    But I say that because we have gone around the country spreading the message of revitalization and true transformation. We have conducted over 65 roundtables. And per the President's executive order, we've convened faithfully those education leaders, business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and, most importantly, community people - the people that sit in the neighborhoods on the front porch, that have seen the neighborhood, that know the pain and know the potential of these neighborhoods. Because, historically, these conversations have not happened.


    So we convened these roundtables to have the hard conversations, to ask the hard questions, to create a sense of unity and understanding. You have investors sitting across from grandmothers from the community. You have new business owners sitting across from congressmen and senators and elected officials to talk about, "This community has not seen X, but it needs to see Z." And that's how it's going to transform.

    We talk about the spirit of the council. We talk about the spirit of the legislation. Yes, it's economic development, but it's also community development. It's social impact. So the people inside the community can thrive and remain and benefit from the revitalization that's going on in the community. We've seen tremendous result already because of Opportunity Zones.

    And the President said it: This is unprecedented. Our country has not seen this in times before - from an investment standpoint, from an incentive standpoint, but also from a unity standpoint, where people who don't talk, who don't work together, who don't convene together, come together for the first time. That's America. And that's what we're seeing. And I'm so blessed and humbled.

    Colorado Springs only has six Opportunity Zones, but they have one of the best prospectuses that I've seen. They have two hotels going up in downtown inside of an Opportunity Zone: a Marriot, and I think it's a Springhill Suites. That's not only going to spread economic development but supporting operating businesses. Jobs are being created.

    On the west side of Atlanta - that's one of the roughest parts, if you will, of Atlanta - we were taking a tour. The police don't even go on the west side of Atlanta most times. Investment has not been on this side for many, many years. Drug deals, prostitution right on the corner. But across the street: new housing, affordable housing, going up. A private school operating out of church is being rehabbed right across the street, going up. City officials are moving the west side of Atlanta because of Opportunity Zones, and new life is being reinvigorated in this city. I've seen it.

    And Cleveland, Ohio: new entrepreneurs, new business, workforce training, workforce housing, right across the street from each other because of the Opportunity Zones. It's bringing new life; it's reenergizing areas. And we've seen it with our own eyes.

    In Mesa, Arizona, and Phoenix, Arizona, it's a - it's a great case of best practice. Arizona State University, which is a major research institution and an anchor institution, has partnered with Mesa and Phoenix city officials and a local developer to develop Opportunity Zones inside of the downtown corridors. Incubator businesses, operating businesses, multi-family housing, mixed-use development going up; jobs being created; economy being spurred; hope being restored.

    Dr. Carson, down in Miami a couple weeks ago, and we were sitting across the table in Liberty Square, and two young men from that neighborhood looked at us and said, "We didn't think this would ever happen where we live. This is Liberty Square. It's a tough part of town." But one of these young men worked on the project with the company that built the doors and the windows. And he says that all of his, quote-unquote, "homeboys" are now asking, "When is this going to be done? How can we get involved?" It's bringing new life. It's restoring dignity and hope.


    And as we sat here that first meeting, that was our prayer: that dignity and hope would be restored. Long after we're gone, this will have a generational impact. And that's the goal. That's the spirit. And so I say that to all of you. Thank you for your work. Many of your agencies are doing a tremendous job on this council. It's a great, humbling experience for me to be the shepherd of this council.

    And it's my prayer that when history tells this story - what did we do with the opportunity that the Lord gave us in Opportunities Zones to bring a blessing to those that come after us? And I believe that will be the story when history tells it.

    So thank you, Mr. President. God bless you. (Applause.)

    THE PRESIDENT: So - so as most of the people in the room know, Scott was a great football player - not a good player; a great player. (Laughter.) Well known for being a great player. Scott, you may be better at this. (Laughter.) I don't know if that's an insult or not. You may be better at this, okay?

    MR. TURNER: Thank you, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

    MR. TURNER: Yes, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: Really a great job. Thank you very much.

    I'm going to ask - Ben, would you like to finish up? It's a tough act to follow, Ben, right? (Laughter.)

    SECRETARY CARSON: No, I just want to reemphasize how important it is that everybody continue to make sure that their sub-Secretaries work with us. We're getting an incredible amount done.

    And one of the things that really encourages me about this is, you know, I go to places, and the governor is a Republican, the mayor is Democrat, the congressman is a Dem, and they're all working together. We can tamp down all this hatred that exists in our country -

    THE PRESIDENT: Right.

    SECRETARY CARSON: - because our country is extraordinarily strong. Nobody can bring us down from the outside. We can only do it from the inside. And Jesus said it: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." These are the kind of efforts that I hope will be able to bring people together.

    So thank you for this.


    THE PRESIDENT: Fantastic job. Beautiful words. We appreciate it. Thank you, Ben. Really good job.

    I'd like to ask Jared Kushner to talk about the immigration policy - the plans - what we have short-term and long-term. Thank you very much.

    MR. KUSHNER: Thank you, Mr. President. And this actually fits very well with what we've spoken about. You were talking before about all the great trade deals and all the jobs that are coming to America. And then Dr. Carson and Director Turner - what they've been talking about with the Opportunity Zone Revitalization Council, really raising wages and lifting people up.

    Now it's time to go figuring out how to modernize our immigration system. When the President asked me to get involved in this last year, the President asked me to work with him to take the ideas that he had for a modern immigration system and figure out how to turn that into a very detailed proposal.

    In May, the President presented the principles, and we got a very, very warm reception on the principles. And now we're doing - as we finish the legislation, it's about 620 pages. The group has been working very hard, again, at the President's direction.

    In Washington, I find a lot of people are very quick to say what they're against. But it's very important for us to articulate as an administration what we're for, but to do it in detail. We're not afraid to put out details because we think that this proposal is a very, very good proposal that really is great for America.

    The Trump administration, despite what some people say, believes in safe, legal immigration and is against illegal and random migration. America is by far the greatest country in the world, and the greatest honor that somebody can have is to become an American citizen. This is something that we value, and this is something that everyone in the country should value.

    America deserves to have the best immigration system in the world. We've studied a lot of the other countries - what they've done and what they have. With the economy, with where our history is at, we think we can have an immigration system that really is the envy of the world and also a border security system that keeps all of our citizens safe.

    This bill will create a modern, merit-based immigration system that allows the best and the brightest from throughout the world to compete based on objective criteria to become American citizens.