By Antoni Slodkowski
BEIJING, May 11 (Reuters) – The families of two Americans imprisoned in China for more than a decade are urging President Donald Trump to seek their release during his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week.
The cases involve Dawn Michelle Hunt, 54, a Chicago-area artist and former flight attendant, and Nelson Wells Jr., 52, a Louisiana native and father of three, who were convicted on drug charges after what their families say were separate “blind mule” scams in which they were unknowingly used to carry narcotics.
For Trump, who has cast himself as a dealmaker who brings Americans home, securing the release of two ailing U.S. prisoners would offer a gain from a summit expected to be short on outcomes amid tensions over trade, Iran and Taiwan.
For Beijing, a humanitarian release of two Americans would be a low-cost gesture that could buy goodwill with a mercurial U.S. president at a sensitive moment in the relationship.
“With President Trump meeting President Xi, our two families are writing letters – we’re asking, ‘Can you please ask for the release of our loved ones?’,” said Tim Hunt, Dawn Michelle’s older brother.
“Hopefully, we can get those letters delivered and read.”
Hunt said his sister is an artistic “brainiac”, a highly intelligent person, and former flight attendant with a degree in fashion design who loved entering sweepstakes with her mother.
Hunt said Dawn Michelle was lured into an international “prize” trip by scammers who, once she was in China, gifted her purses and a new suitcase containing hidden drugs that she unwittingly agreed to carry on a flight out of the country.
Nelson Wells Jr. traveled the world, climbed mountains and explored Japan’s peaks, sharing the views with his father. Wells was arrested after agreeing to carry another person’s suitcase while returning from a trip to China, his family said. The individual vanished once security at the airport discovered narcotics hidden in the bag.
“I enjoyed serving my country,” said Wells’ father, Nelson Wells Sr., a U.S. Army veteran whose wife also worked for the Department of Defense for 28 years. “Now I just want my country to serve me.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said it is providing the pair with consular assistance and that officials are advocating for the health and welfare of the two citizens but declined to provide details, citing privacy considerations.
A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the two are serving sentences for serious drug-related crimes and that the government is handling their cases according to the rule of law while ensuring their health and legitimate rights are protected.
HEALTH A MAJOR CONCERN
Advocates say the State Department has made a formal request to Chinese counterparts for both prisoners to be released on humanitarian grounds, and that Chinese officials have privately indicated a willingness to consider it if the appeal comes from a senior level.
“The Chinese side has shown a willingness to grant the humanitarian release, but they are also keen to hear from the U.S. side just how important it is for the American people,” said Beijing-based lawyer James Zimmerman, who is advising the Hunt and Wells families.
The relatives of the prisoners say both are in deteriorating health. Hunt has developed serious health problems, needs blood transfusions but does not trust prison doctors enough to consent to surgery. Wells suffers from severe seizures, diabetes, high blood pressure and other complications, they say.
In 2024, China and the U.S. each released three citizens both governments said were wrongfully detained in the other country, concluding years of diplomacy.
The advocates say U.S. official attention has intensified in recent months. Peter Humphrey, a fraud investigator and former prisoner in China who now advises families of foreign detainees in the country, said the U.S. embassy has been raising the cases more frequently with Chinese authorities.
The health concerns are now central to both families’ appeals.
“Both Dawn Michelle Hunt and Nelson Wells are gravely ill and in desperate need of medical care in the U.S. – they should both be granted humanitarian parole,” said John Kamm, whose San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation researches political prisoners in China. Dui Hua estimates that there are around 200 Americans in carceral facilities in China.
Both families say the cases have gained momentum after the families testified at a September 2024 hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which brought wider attention to Americans imprisoned in China.
They are also pushing legislation introduced by Representative Chris Smith, named for Hunt and Wells, that they say would improve support for families in similar cases.
For the two families, the toll at home has deepened with time. Tim Hunt said his father died in January without seeing his daughter freed. Wells’ youngest daughter, now 12 and living in Japan, barely knows her father because she was six months old when he was arrested, his family said.
“We are common people,” Wells Sr. said. “We cry every night. Our loved ones never leave our minds.”
(Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
