Pastor Jin Mingri, also known as Mingri “Ezra” Jin, the founder of Beijing’s unregistered Zion Church network, arrived in Los Angeles on July 4 after Chinese authorities released him from detention in southern China, according to ChinaAid, his family and multiple news reports. U.S. President Donald Trump said in May that he had raised Jin’s case with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, but the extent to which that intervention directly caused Jin’s release has not been independently confirmed.
Jin arrived in the United States on July 4 and reunited with relatives, after being held in the southern Chinese city of Beihai in Guangxi since October 2025, according to ChinaAid and reporting by Reuters and the Associated Press.
Jin, the founder and senior pastor of Zion Church, was detained during an October 2025 crackdown in which dozens of Zion Church leaders were taken into custody across multiple locations in China. Rights groups and prior media reports said authorities accused Jin and other leaders of offenses tied to online religious activity, including allegations described as “illegal dissemination of religious information” or “illegally using information networks.”
Trump publicly discussed the case after a May 2026 trip to China. Speaking to reporters while traveling home, he said he raised with Xi the detention of Jin as well as the imprisonment of Hong Kong pro-democracy figure Jimmy Lai, and quoted Xi as saying he would give the pastor’s case “serious consideration” while calling Lai’s case “tough,” according to AP.
In a statement carried by The Daily Wire and separately reported by Reuters, Jin’s family described his release as a “miracle,” thanked God, and credited Trump and his administration for their efforts. Reuters also reported the family said they believed the release could not have happened without Xi’s “direct intervention.
ChinaAid said Chinese officials told Jin his release was linked to U.S.-China discussions and framed it as a goodwill gesture timed to U.S. Independence Day; CSW, a U.K.-based religious freedom group, cited that ChinaAid account. China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, the Republican co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said he was grateful Jin had been released and thanked Trump for raising the case, adding that U.S. diplomats stayed engaged in pressing for Jin’s freedom, according to a statement quoted by The Daily Wire.
Reuters reported that Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, said other Zion Church members remained detained in China after Jin’s release.
