Ezra Jin Mingri, the leader of Beijing’s unregistered Zion Church, has been released from Chinese detention and arrived in Los Angeles to reunite with family, former Vice President Mike Pence and other U.S. officials said. Pence praised President Donald Trump for raising the case and urged continued pressure on Beijing to free other detainees.
Speaking on social media, Pence said the president “should be commended” for raising Jin’s detention with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Officials, family members and advocacy groups described the pastor’s return as the result of high-level diplomatic engagement; those sources linked Mr. Trump’s conversations with Xi to Jin’s release, a connection that reporters have not independently verified.
Ezra Jin Mingri: Background and detention timeline
Jin was detained in October during a wider enforcement action that authorities said involved leaders of churches operating outside state-sanctioned religious structures. Reporting indicates he was detained along with 17 other church leaders. Family members and supporters say Jin arrived in Los Angeles less than two months after President Trump raised the pastor’s case with Xi.
Those timelines — the October detention, the reported conversation between leaders, and Jin’s arrival in Los Angeles — are drawn from statements by the family, advocacy groups and public comments by U.S. officials. The accounts of detention and travel are reported by those sources; independent verification of all details has not been made public by news outlets citing them.
Pence’s account and quotes
Former Vice President Mike Pence posted on X that President Trump “should be commended” for raising Ezra Jin Mingri’s detention with Xi, and he celebrated the pastor’s release as a welcome development. Pence’s post described the moment as a victory for religious liberty advocates and for those who had called publicly for Jin’s freedom.
Pence also used the post to press Beijing on other cases, including calling publicly for the release of Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai and adding the hashtag #FreeJimmyLai. His remarks urged continued U.S. attention to individual cases and human rights concerns in China and echoed similar public statements from other Republican lawmakers and advocacy groups.
How Trump raised the case with Xi
Officials quoted in recent reporting say President Trump raised Ezra Jin Mingri’s detention during meetings with Chinese leaders while in Beijing. Frances Hui of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation is cited in reporting as saying the pastor’s return to the U.S. followed within weeks of those diplomatic discussions. Jin’s family also issued a statement thanking Mr. Trump for raising the case, according to news accounts.
Those who reported the connection described it as an example of how direct, high-level diplomatic outreach can produce results for detained individuals. At the same time, news outlets that relayed the family and official statements have noted that the causal link — that Mr. Trump’s raising the matter directly produced Jin’s release — is presented by those sources and has not been independently verified by reporters.
Who is Ezra Jin Mingri
Ezra Jin Mingri is known as a pastor and leader of Beijing’s Zion Church, an unregistered Protestant congregation that has repeatedly operated outside China’s state-sanctioned religious framework. Unregistered churches in China often face monitoring and enforcement actions by authorities for operating beyond officially approved religious organizations.
Jin’s detention drew attention from U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates, who said it exemplified broader concerns about religious freedom and civil liberties in China. Advocacy groups and some members of Congress had publicly pressed for his release in the weeks after his detention, which in turn helped bring increased media and diplomatic attention to the case.
Why it matters
The case underscores the interplay between diplomacy and human rights advocacy. U.S. officials and advocates framed Jin’s release as a cautionary example of how private conversations and public pressure can combine to help secure the freedom of individuals detained for religious activity.
Lawmakers and advocacy groups also used the moment to renew calls for the release of other detainees, including Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai. U.S. officials and members of Congress have emphasized that while individual returns are meaningful, they do not by themselves resolve broader concerns about human rights practices or the treatment of unregistered religious communities in China.
Sen. Rick Scott and other Republican lawmakers praised the development and urged continued efforts to secure the release of other detained activists and religious figures. Human rights organizations said they would continue to press for transparency and accountability in cases involving arbitrary detention or restrictions on religious practice.
What comes next
Advocates and some U.S. politicians say they will press for additional releases and keep scrutiny on China’s human rights record. Observers caution that while Jin’s return is a concrete outcome, it does not automatically indicate a sustained policy shift or a pattern of similar releases.
Human rights groups and members of Congress plan to monitor whether comparable interventions lead to more releases and whether Chinese authorities change enforcement approaches to unregistered churches and other civil society actors. Supporters of Jin have said the immediate priority is family reunification and the pastor’s recovery from the period in detention.
Source notes
This article draws on statements and reporting from Fox News and the Associated Press, including public comments by former Vice President Mike Pence, reporting that cites Frances Hui of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, and statements attributed to Jin’s family. The link between President Trump’s discussions with Xi and Jin’s release is reported by officials and the family and has not been independently verified by news outlets that relayed those accounts.
Original reporting: Fox News. Associated Press reporting is also cited in statements from Jin’s family and advocacy organizations.
Next steps: reporters and human rights monitors say they will continue to seek confirmation of details, track whether additional detainees are released, and follow statements from U.S. officials and advocacy groups.
