ChinaAid Petitions For Trump’s Help In Bringing Detained Pastor Home To US
The Chinese Communist Party imprisoned Pastor John Cao for seven years because of his Christianity, advocates say, then confiscated his passport to prevent him from returning to his American wife and family in North Carolina.
Cao, who holds permanent U.S. residency, has developed metastatic prostate cancer and would like to spend this stage of his life at home, but the CCP refuses to return his passport, essentially holding him in detention in Changsha. In his 60s, he lives there with his 90-year-old mother.
ChinaAid is seeking 100,000 signatures petitioning President Donald Trump to urge Cao’s safe passage to the U.S. when President Xi Jinping visits Washington in September.
“Basically, this is his last wish that he could spend the rest of his limited time on this earth with his family,” ChinaAid Founder and President Bob Fu told Baptist Press, referencing Cao’s wife Jamie Powell, their two adult children and other family members. “Especially, he has never seen his first grandson since the boy was born. I feel devastated that he is stuck inside China.”
This marks the second time ChinaAid has petitioned for Cao’s release, after an initial petition when he was arrested in 2017. This time, ChinaAid is cosponsoring the petition with Revelation Media, an evangelistic ministry spreading the Gospel electronically.
The latest petition launched Aug. 16 – Help Bring Pastor Cao Home – had received more than 13,000 signatures by Aug. 21.
“Really, we want to make this humanitarian plea,” Fu told Baptist Press, describing Cao as a longtime friend who helped Fu and his young family when they first arrived in the U.S. decades ago. “Here’s a pastor who has spent his life serving others, especially impoverished children. And he also has served his whole entire sentence without any reduction.”
Fu encourages Christians to sign the petition here.
“When one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers,” Fu said. “And now there’s this unprecedented window of time with President Trump’s summit on September 25th in the White House with the Chinese President Xi Jinping, and we can make a difference.”
Cao’s health is deteriorating quickly, as cancer has spread to his bones. He must pay out-of-pocket for medical care because of his U.S. residency, Fu said, and his wife and one of his sons were last able to visit him months ago. Additionally, his family members face a potential exit ban if they return to China, Fu said.
“So his family is waiting for him to come back home for a final reunion,” Fu said. “We just really want to avoid (his being) martyred.”
China has given no explanation for confiscating Cao’s passport, having issued it days before his planned departure in 2024, and having confiscated it as he attempted to board a flight to the U.S.
Cao had continued to minister in China before his health deteriorated, despite heavy government surveillance that is typical of CPC persecution of house churches there.
“In the past two and a half years, he has baptized multiple dozens of new believers in his ministry from his home that has been closely surveilled and monitored 24-7 by six Chinese -assigned public security officers,” Fu said. “Wherever he travels, he has a (CPC) escort.” For Cao, it is as if he remains imprisoned.
Cao was arrested in 2017 after he established 16 schools for persecuted Kachin children in Myanmar near China’s border and was lured back to China. Cao had been a permanent U.S. resident for decades, but divided his time between North Carolina and China in ministry.
“He has never stopped demonstrating the love of Christ. He could have lived a beautiful, successful American dream by just pastoring the largest Chinese church in Raleigh-Durham with a solid salary and with his wife and children together for the past three decades,” Fu said. “But he felt strongly the call from God as a servant of the Lord to love his motherland by spreading the love of Christ and by establishing so many schools for these impoverished children.”
Fu referenced Trump’s advocacy that secured the release of Pastor Ezra Jin Mingra, the founder of Zion Church who had been imprisoned with dozens of other pastors of the multisite Zion Church.
ChinaAid and RevelationMedia will present the petition to the Chinese Embassy White House in advance of Xi’s September visit.
“If we sign our signatures and spread the word at the BringCaoHome.com campaign, make our voice heard,” Fu said, “I think President Trump will, I’m very confident, will speak up for him, just like he did for Pastor Ezra Jin.”
ChinaAid is a major advocacy group for persecuted Christians in China, where Christians comprising about 6.7 percent of the population face systemic persecution from both the CPC and society. Persecution watchdog Open Doors U.S., in its 2026 World Watch List, ranked China as 17th among the 50 countries with the most severe Christian persecution.
This article was originally published by Baptist Press.
Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.