Trump Says He Will Raise Detained Pastor Ezra Jin's Case With Xi Jinping in Beijing

President Donald Trump told a reporter "I’ll bring it up" when asked if he would discuss detained Pastor Ezra Jin during his visit to Beijing for meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Grace Drexel, five weeks before the birth of her third child, spoke to Fox News Digital in Washington expressing hope for her father's release. ," Drexel stated.

Pastor Ezra Jin has been detained in China for the past seven months. Chinese authorities formally arrested 18 leaders of underground Zion Church. Grace Drexel has not seen her father in person since 2020.

Her mother and younger brothers fled China in 2018 after authorities shut down Zion Church’s physical sanctuary in Beijing. Pastor Ezra Jin chose to stay in China with his community instead of applying for a green card. "My father actually had many opportunities to apply for a green card," Drexel said.

Drexel tearfully recounted that relatives learned Pastor Ezra Jin had been handcuffed, his head shaved, and that he was struggling to receive medication while in detention. "And this kind and gentle man is now in prison," she said. " Pressure on Zion Church intensified around 2016 and 2017 after Xi Jinping rewrote China’s religious regulations and advanced the "Sinicization" of religion policy.

Government officials demanded that Zion Church install facial-recognition cameras inside its sanctuary. Zion Church refused to install facial-recognition cameras, stating all services are public. Authorities installed surveillance cameras in Zion Church’s lobby after the church refused internal cameras.

Church members faced harassment including loss of jobs, eviction from apartments, threats to children’s education, and threats to parents’ retirement benefits. Authorities confiscated Zion Church’s property and shut down its physical worship space. Pastor Ezra Jin moved church services online and into smaller home gatherings after the physical sanctuary was closed.

Chinese authorities accused Zion Church leaders of "illegal use of information networks" because of online and decentralized worship activities. Grace Drexel stated there are hundreds of pastors currently in prison or detention in China. "There are so many pastors and church leaders and churches being persecuted in China actively today," she added.

"This is a very critical period in China. Brownback profiles believers imprisoned, tortured, and surveilled for practicing religion outside state-approved institutions.

Liu Pengyu cited official figures of nearly 200 million religious believers in China, more than 380,000 clerical personnel, approximately 5,500 religious groups and more than 140,000 registered places of worship. Liu Pengyu accused foreign countries and media of interfering in China’s internal affairs under the pretext of religious freedom.

Drexel described her father as a gentle man devoted to his community.

"I know my father as just a very gentle and kind man," she said.