"Free Our Pastor": Congress Urges Trump to Raise Jailed Chinese Pastor at Xi Summit

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He has diabetes, hasn't seen his family in seven years, and is sitting in a Chinese detention cell for the crime of preaching the Gospel online. Now 29 U.S. lawmakers from both parties are asking President Trump to bring his case directly to Xi Jinping — in Beijing, this May.

A Pastor, a Prison Cell, and a Summit

On October 10, 2025, Chinese security forces arrived at the home of Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri in Beihai, a coastal city in China's Guangxi Province. They handcuffed him and took him away. At the same time, across Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and at least four other cities, nearly 30 other pastors, preachers, and church members from the same network were detained or simply disappeared.

It was, according to Human Rights Watch, the largest coordinated, nationwide crackdown against an unofficial Protestant church in China in more than 40 years.

Now, five months later, Pastor Jin — 56 years old, suffering from severe type 2 diabetes, and separated from his American family for seven years — remains behind bars. And a bipartisan group of 29 U.S. senators and representatives is demanding that President Trump use his upcoming summit with Xi Jinping to secure his release.

"Words Are No Longer Enough"

In a letter sent to President Trump on March 24, senators and representatives led by Republican Ted Budd of North Carolina and Democrat Tim Kaine of Virginia — joined by Representatives Riley Moore and Thomas Suozzi — urged the president to raise Pastor Jin's case directly with Xi Jinping ahead of the May summit in Beijing. The letter also called on Trump to advocate for the release of all Christians and other religious minorities unjustly imprisoned in China.

The lawmakers did not stop at words. They urged the administration to invoke existing authorities under the International Religious Freedom Act to impose targeted sanctions and visa restrictions on Chinese officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom — and to continue championing international religious freedom as a core element of U.S.-China policy.

Bob Fu, president of the religious freedom organization ChinaAid, put it plainly: "Words are no longer enough. The Chinese Communist Party has escalated its systematic campaign to eradicate independent religious life. The United States must respond with consequences — not just concern."

Who Is Ezra Jin — and Why Did Beijing Fear Him?

Pastor Jin founded Zion Church in Beijing in 2007. What began as a small congregation grew into one of China's largest urban evangelical church networks — previously Beijing's largest church — with thousands of members attending services across the country.

Trouble began in 2018, when authorities shut down Zion's main church in Beijing after church officials refused to install CCTV cameras inside the building. Since then, the church shifted to online services and smaller, in-person house meetings — and Pastor Jin has been living under an exit ban and around-the-clock surveillance, unable to leave China despite repeated petitions.

His wife and children — including his daughter Grace and two sons, all American citizens — have been waiting for him in the United States for seven years. Following his October arrest, his family in the United States received threats from the Chinese government.

Even from his prison cell, Jin's voice has not been silenced. In a pastoral letter smuggled out of detention on October 19, he wrote to his congregation: "I'm gradually adjusting to life here. My blood sugar and physical discomfort are slowly improving. Don't worry about me. I find great comfort in being able to endure this little suffering for the Gospel."

The Trigger: A New Online Crackdown on Religion

The immediate cause of the October raids was a new regulation that tells its own story.

In September 2025, Chinese authorities issued an "Online Code of Conduct for Religious Professionals" — banning the circulation of unauthorized religious content online and effectively denying the public any access to religious teachers and teachings outside of Communist Party control.

Pastor Jin and Zion Church had been using online platforms to continue their ministry since their Beijing church was confiscated. Under the new rules, that was enough to justify arrest.

The charge brought against Jin — "illegally using information networks" — carries a maximum sentence of three years. But the real sentence, analysts note, began far earlier: seven years of isolation from his family, constant surveillance, and the slow suffocation of a church community that had committed no crime beyond choosing to worship freely.

God Replaced by the Party — China's "Sinicization" Campaign

The crackdown on Zion Church is not an isolated event. It is the most dramatic recent expression of a systematic, decade-long campaign to bring all religious life in China under Communist Party control.

Under Xi Jinping, the CCP has implemented what it calls the "Sinicization of Religion" — a policy requiring the complete subordination of all religious groups to the Party's agenda and Marxist ideology, eliminating any religious teaching, practice, or loyalty that cannot be reconciled with CCP rule.

The implications are sweeping. Bibles have been confiscated. Crosses have been torn from church buildings. Sunday school classes for children have been banned. State-approved churches are required to display Communist Party slogans alongside scripture.

In 2017, the CCP's religious affairs department published an article declaring that churches must endorse the party's leadership as part of "sinicization" — concluding with the extraordinary assertion: "Only Sinicized churches can obtain God's love."

The U.S. Senate resolution condemning the Zion Church crackdown — introduced by Senator Ted Cruz and co-sponsored by members of both parties — notes that thousands of Zion Church members and millions of Christians and other religious adherents in China seek only to peacefully worship and care for their neighbors, without threat or fear of persecution.

Washington Has Already Spoken — But Beijing Has Not Listened

The U.S. response to the October crackdown was swift — and so far, largely symbolic.

The U.S. State Department condemned the arrests immediately, calling on the CCP to release the detained church leaders and to allow all people of faith to engage in religious activities without fear of retribution.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom called on the State Department to maintain China's designation as a "Country of Particular Concern" — the most serious category in U.S. religious freedom law — citing systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations.

At the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China conference at the European Parliament in Brussels in November 2025, Pastor Jin's daughter Grace addressed an international audience: "Many of them were taken in front of their young families, who they now leave behind. My father, and several other older leaders, struggle with various health issues and we are deeply concerned about their treatment in prison." She closed with an appeal: "I call for the immediate and unconditional release of all 23 church leaders. I also ask the international community to continue to stand and not to forget those detained."

The Summit Test

The May 14-15 Trump-Xi summit in Beijing will be a test of many things: trade policy, Taiwan, technology competition, and the global balance of power. But for 29 lawmakers — and for the family of a diabetic pastor sitting in a detention cell in Beihai — it will be a test of something more fundamental.

Will the United States use its most powerful diplomatic moment to stand for a man whose only crime was preaching to his congregation online? Or will religious freedom be quietly set aside, as it so often is, in the interest of a smoother negotiation?

As the Hudson Institute noted, Beijing routinely demands that other nations remain silent about its human rights record as part of any negotiations. Pastor Jin's arrest is a reminder of the human cost of acquiescence to that demand.

The summit is seven weeks away. Pastor Jin has been in detention for five months. His family has been waiting for seven years.

The question now is whether the most powerful dealmaker in the world will choose to notice.

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Sources:

1. U.S. Senator Ted Budd – Official Press Release, Bipartisan Letter to Trump (March 25, 2026): https://www.budd.senate.gov/2026/03/25/budd-kaine-lead-bipartisan-letter-urging-president-trump-to-advocate-for-pastor-ezra-jins-release/
2. Human Rights Watch – "China: Nationwide Crackdown on Major Underground Church" (October 14, 2025): https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/14/china-nationwide-crackdown-on-major-underground-church
3. U.S. Department of State – "Detention of Zion House Church Leaders in China" (October 12, 2025): https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/10/detention-of-zion-house-church-leaders-in-china
4. Fortify Rights – "China: Immediately and Unconditionally Release Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri and Zion Church Members" (November 13, 2025): https://www.fortifyrights.org/eas-inv-2025-11-13/
5. ChinaAid – "ChinaAid Urges Decisive U.S. Action as Bipartisan Congress Presses Trump on Pastor Ezra Jin Case" (March 26, 2026): https://www.christiannewswire.com/chinaaid-urges-decisive-u-s-action-as-bipartisan-congress-presses-trump-on-pastor-ezra-jin-case/
6. Hudson Institute – "Prioritizing the Release of Chinese Christian Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri": https://www.hudson.org/events/prioritizing-release-chinese-christian-pastor-ezra-jin-mingri
7. U.S. Senate Resolution S.Res.463 – 119th Congress, Condemning CCP Persecution of Religious Minorities: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-resolution/463/text
8. U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom – Statement on Zion Church Crackdown (October 2025): https://persecution.org/2025/10/17/uscirf-condemns-detention-of-church-leaders-in-china/
9. The Luke Alliance – "Mingri (Ezra) Jin and Zion Church" (Case Documentation): https://www.lukealliance.org/mingri-jin-zion-church
10. Washington Times – "Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri of the Zion Church Has Been Detained in China" (October 11, 2025): https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/oct/11/pastor-ezra-jin-mingri-zion-church-detained-china/

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