Grace Jin Drexel hopes Donald Trump can get her father out of a Chinese prison.
Mingri “Ezra” Jin is the pastor of Beijing’s Zion Church, one of China’s largest underground Christian churches. In October, he and 22 other church leaders were arrested and imprisoned as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on independent churches. Drexel, an American citizen, told The Daily Wire that Trump has an opportunity to build on his “impressive” record of freeing hostages to advocate for her father’s freedom.
“This Eastertide season, President Trump has the unique opportunity and ability to secure the release of my father — building on his already impressive track record of freeing hostages — and show that he has not forgotten persecuted Christians,” Drexel told The Daily Wire. “My father, as a pastor, only wanted what Christians all over the world want: to worship our one and only God freely. We are so proud to have such a role model as a father and grandfather.”
Her comments come after a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Wednesday urged Trump to press Chinese President Xi Jinping on the treatment of Chinese Christians during his upcoming visit to China.
“We encourage you to advocate for their release and request the PRC to allow Mr. Jin to leave China, in addition to raising concerns regarding the ongoing unjust imprisonment and persecution of Christians, Tibetans, and Uyghurs, among other religious and ethnic minority groups across China,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter led by Senators Ted Budd (R-NC) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Reps. Riley Moore (R-WV) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY).
The lawmakers also asked for the Trump administration to use visa restrictions and sanctions to target individuals responsible for locking up Christians and other religious minorities in China.
“President Trump cares deeply about our great Christians around the world,” White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told The Daily Wire. “We do not comment on the president’s private conversations.”
Drexel, who testified about her father’s plight during a hearing by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in January, thanked the lawmakers for their advocacy.
“I am so grateful for the letter by so many members of Congress from across the country that highlights that me and my father’s story resonates with so many,” she told The Daily Wire. “As a daughter, I want my father back with us in the U.S. and I hope that the leaders of both countries, both having daughters, will understand my family’s plight.”
Drexel previously told The Daily Wire that her father became a Christian after the brutal Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.
“When the country betrayed them in such a brutal way, it really was shocking, and they lost a sense of direction for my dad,” she told The Daily Wire. “He then found the sense of purpose and direction in Christianity, and he turned to Christ, and he realized that was the firm foundation that he needed in order to build his life upon.”
The initial wave of arrests targeting Christians occurred in October 2025, but another wave began in January 2026 when police arrested at least seven people linked to Early Rain Covenant Church, a prominent evangelical Presbyterian church located in southwestern China.
The Trump administration previously condemned the arrest of Jin and other Christians.
“This crackdown further demonstrates how the CCP exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in October 2025. “We call on the CCP to immediately release the detained church leaders and to allow all people of faith, including members of house churches, to engage in religious activities without fear of retribution.”
