Trump to speak with Xi about imprisoned pastor, publisher

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he would mention the cases of Jimmy Lai, a former pro-democracy media publisher, and Mingri “Ezra” Jin, a pastor of an unregistered church, during his upcoming meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Both Lai and Jin are imprisoned in China and are in poor health. Their family members living in the United States have lobbied Trump to advocate for their release. Trump is scheduled to meet with Xi Wednesday.

Trump said Lai’s publications caused turmoil in China but that Lai tried to do the right thing. Trump wanted to see Lai freed, he said. Though the president did not use Jin’s name when referring to the pastor, Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, recently confirmed that he was the other person Trump promised to mention.

Why are Lai and Jin imprisoned? Lai has been imprisoned since 2020 and recently received a 20-year sentence for colluding with foreign forces and publishing seditious materials. He is a Roman Catholic and a British citizen who published the Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong until the government forced him to shut it down. He has reportedly been held in prolonged solitary confinement.

Jin, a pastor of the unregistered, underground Zion Church, was arrested in October 2025 along with nearly 20 other pastors and church members. His family has not been allowed to contact him, and he faces charges of anti-government online activities for holding church services online, his daughter Drexel told WORLD in April.

Dig deeper: Read Jenny Lind Schmitt’s recent interview with Grace Jin Drexel.