Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, leader of the underground Zion Church, has been released from detention in China and arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday. His release comes less than two months after US President Donald Trump raised his case with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a state visit in May. Jin was detained in October alongside 17 other church leaders in one of China's largest crackdowns on a single church in decades.
A family statement thanked Trump and the US administration for their leadership, stating that Jin's release could not have happened without Xi's direct intervention. The family expressed hope that this signals a positive turn for religious freedom in China and US-China relations. Rights groups, including ChinaAid and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, welcomed the news but noted that at least eight members of the Zion Church remain detained.
Trump had previously mentioned Jin's case during a press conference following his meeting with Xi, stating that the Chinese leader would give serious consideration to his release. The pastor's detention was part of a broader crackdown on religious activities in China, where the government tightly controls religion and officially promotes atheism. Jin's daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, confirmed that eight church members are still detained in China.