A prominent underground church pastor detained in China has been released and reunited with his family in the United States. His release comes less than two months after U.S. President Donald Trump raised the pastor's case directly with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri of the Zion Church arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday. Jin was detained last October along with 17 other leaders of the unregistered church. The mass detention had raised concerns among human rights advocates about escalating crackdowns on religious freedom in China.
A statement from Pastor Jin's family expressed gratitude for the swift release. They acknowledged both Trump and Xi, noting that the release could not have happened without the direct intervention of the Chinese leader. "We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations," the family stated.
Trump had previously told reporters that he raised Jin's case during a flight home from a state visit to Beijing in May. While Xi agreed to strongly consider Jin's case, he reportedly indicated that the case of Jimmy Lai—an imprisoned Hong Kong publisher serving a 20-year sentence—would be much harder to resolve.
Although rights advocates welcomed Jin's release, they warned that religious persecution in China remains a critical issue. At least eight other members of the Zion Church remain in detention.
The Zion Church is one of China’s largest unregistered house churches. In China, religious organizations are required to register with the government, and the ruling Communist Party has increasingly sought to "Sinicize" religion, demanding that religious groups align with party ideology.