China frees pastor Ezra Jin Mingri after Trump intervention

Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, a prominent figure in China's underground Zion Church, has been released from detention and arrived in Los Angeles, rights advocates confirmed. His freedom follows less than two months after U.S. President Donald Trump personally raised the pastor's case with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a state visit to Beijing.

Jin arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 4, and has been reunited with his family. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of Western lawmakers, shared a photo of the pastor smiling with his daughter, Grace Jin Drexel. Jin's case gained international attention after Trump stated in May that Xi had agreed to give "serious consideration" to his release.

Jin was among 17 other church leaders detained in October in one of China's largest crackdowns on a single church in recent decades. This action raised concerns about Beijing's increasing restrictions on religious freedom. ChinaAid, a Christian NGO, welcomed Jin's release, noting he had been held in detention centers in Beihai since last October.

Despite Jin's release, his daughter Grace revealed that eight members of the Zion Church are still detained in China. A family statement expressed gratitude for the intervention, stating, "We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations." China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under President Xi Jinping, China's ruling Communist Party has intensified scrutiny of unofficial religious groups. Recent months have seen crackdowns on unregistered churches, including raids and detentions of leaders from the Early Rain Covenant Church and the removal of a cross from the Yayang church. Zion Church, founded in 2007, had grown to 1,500 members before closing in 2018 under government pressure, though it maintained an online presence.

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We know that this could not have happened without the direct intervention from Chairman Xi Jinping. We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations.