(LifeSiteNews) — Multiple churches in the United States have staged politically charged Nativity scenes to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) efforts to remove illegal immigrants.
At St. Susanna Catholic Church in Dedham, Massachusetts, the traditional figure of Jesus in the manger was replaced with a sign implying that Jesus would be deported by ICE.
“ICE was here,” reads the sign. “The Holy Family is safe in the Sanctuary of our Church.”
This is disgusting.
Saint Susanna Parish in Massachusetts is displaying a Nativity scene with an empty manger and a sign that reads, “ICE was here,” along with contact info for a group that monitors local immigration enforcement.
Stop using our religion for your activism. pic.twitter.com/c1JabTkXjx
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) December 4, 2025
The bottom of the sign also encourages people to call LUCE, a hotline that tracks the movement of ICE agents. The parish also hosts a “Refugee Resettlement Collaborative,” which aids in supporting “refugee families who we assist in relocating to their new home and beginning a new life in our country.”
READ: Pope Leo lends support to USCCB statement criticizing Trump’s immigration policies
Another church, the Lake Street Church of Evanston, Illinois, created a Nativity scene depicting the infant Jesus in zip ties being detained by ICE. Mary is shown wearing a gas mask as a reference to the tear gas used on ICE protesters.
Woke church in Illinois displays anti-ICE nativity scene with baby Jesus with his hands zip tied and wrapped in emergency foil to protest against ICE.
Lake Street Church of Evanston has also displayed Joseph and Mary wearing gas masks being detained by Roman soldiers meant to… pic.twitter.com/j5nzPT95Si
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) December 4, 2025
“This installation reimagines the nativity as a scene of forced family separation, drawing direct parallels between the Holy Family’s refugee experience and contemporary immigration detention practices,” stated Lake Street Church in a Facebook post.
“The Holy Family were refugees. This is not political interpretation, this is the reality described in the stories our tradition has told and retold for millenia [sic].”
Catholic social teaching affirms that immigrants should be treated with dignity and respect, but it also notes that a country has a right to secure its borders. In the USCCB’s “Catholic Social Teaching on Immigration and the Movement of Peoples,” the conference outlines that countries are under no obligation to accept all who wish to enter.
“While individuals have the right to move in search of a safe and humane life, no country is bound to accept all those who wish to resettle there,” states the USCCB.
“For this reason, Catholics should not view the work of the federal government and its immigration control as negative or evil. Those who work to enforce our nation’s immigration laws often do so out of a sense of loyalty to the common good and compassion for poor people seeking a better life.”
