Churches reimagine Nativity scenes to protest ICE raids

One baby Jesus lies in a manger in the snow, wrapped in a silver emergency blanket with his wrists zip-tied.

- By LEAH WILLINGHAM AND LAURA BARGFELD

A DOLL representing the baby Jesus is zip-tied in a Nativity scene in Illinois.

(ERIN HOOLEY Associated Press)

Mary stands nearby outside the Lake Street Church in Evanston, Ill., wearing a plastic gas mask and flanked by Roman soldiers in tactical vests labeled “ICE.”

In another Chicago suburb, not far from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility that has drawn protests over detentions, a sign at the manger outside the Urban Village Church says “Due to ICE activity in our community the Holy Family is in hiding.” And more than a thousand miles away, the Christ child went missing from a Nativity scene at St. Susanna Parish in Dedham, Mass., replaced by a hand-painted sign: “ICE was here.”

These and other stark reimaginings of Christ’s birth are drawing praise and outrage as churches turn the Christmas tableau into a commentary on federal immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.

Their creators say they are placing the ancient story in a contemporary frame, portraying the Holy Family as refugees to reflect on the fear of separation and deportation that many families — including their own parishioners — are experiencing today.

Supporters of the displays say the Bible is on their side, but critics call the scenes sacrilegious and politically divisive, accusing the churches of abusing sacred imagery and some arguing they should lose their tax-exempt status. The archdiocese in Massachusetts ordered that the manger must be “restored to its proper sacred purpose.”

The debate comes as immigration enforcement intensifies in states and cities whose leaders object to the immigration crackdown. In September alone, a combined total of at least 2,000 people were arrested in Illinois and Massachusetts, according to federal arrest figures released by immigration authorities.