Chinese Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri Freed After Nine Months

A prominent Chinese pastor detained for nearly nine months has been released and reunited with his family in the United States. Ezra Jin Mingri, founder of the unregistered Zion Church, arrived in Los Angeles on July 3, according to his family and rights advocates.

Jin was detained in October 2025 along with dozens of other church leaders and members in what was described as one of China's largest crackdowns on a single church in decades. His case gained international attention after former U.S. President Donald Trump said he raised it with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a meeting in May. Trump said Xi was giving serious consideration to the pastor's release.

A family statement expressed gratitude to Trump and his administration for their leadership and acknowledged Xi's direct intervention. The statement said the release happened very suddenly and described it as a miracle. Jin's daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, said it was the first time in eight years her father had seen his wife and the first in six years he had seen her.

Jin, a Chinese citizen, founded Zion Church in 2007. The church operates outside China's state-sanctioned religious framework, defying regulations that require...