In a brazen act of sacrilege that perfectly encapsulates the modern left’s obsession with replacing faith with radical politics, a so-called church in Illinois has desecrated the sacred Nativity scene, turning a timeless symbol of divine hope and salvation into a crude piece of anti-American, anti-enforcement propaganda. The Lake Street Church of Evanston unveiled a display featuring a baby Jesus bound by zip-ties, Roman soldiers reimagined as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and Mary and Joseph grotesquely adorned with gas masks. This is not an act of worship; it is a calculated political stunt designed to slander the men and women who protect our borders and to pervert one of Christianity’s holiest narratives to serve a open-borders agenda.
The church openly admitted its intent in a Facebook post, stating the display “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.” This deliberate and malicious false equivalence is the foundational lie of the entire progressive immigration narrative, a lie that President Donald Trump has tirelessly fought to expose and correct. The post further explains, “By placing the Christmas story (Christianity’s central narrative of refuge, sanctuary, and sacred family) within the visual language of immigration enforcement and detention, this work asks viewers to confront the disconnect between professed religious or moral values and immigration policies.” The only disconnect here is between this church’s professed Christianity and the actual, biblical tenets of the faith it has abandoned.
Church Nativity Scene Features Zip-Tied Baby Jesus, Roman Soliders as ICE Agents https://t.co/B4moHXCKLE pic.twitter.com/uREDeF23N6
— Protestia (@Protestia) December 1, 2025
In a detailed attempt to justify its blasphemy, the church’s post delves deeper into its offensive symbolism. “The emergency blanket references the actual materials used in detention facilities. The zip ties on the infant’s wrists directly reference the children who were zip-tied by agents during a raid on a Chicago apartment building earlier this year, where most residents were U.S. citizens: a stark reminder that enforcement terror does not discriminate by documentation status,” the post claims. This language, describing lawful enforcement as “terror,” is a vile slander against the dedicated officers of ICE, who operate under the restored rule of law implemented by the Trump administration to clean up the catastrophic border crisis created by Joe Biden.
The post continues, “The gas masks worn by Mary and Joseph reference the documented use of tear gas and other chemical weapons deployed by ICE agents against peaceful protesters, journalists, and community members advocating for immigration reform and bearing witness to human rights abuses within the system.” This is not theology; it is straight from the playbook of the mainstream liberal media, parroting their most incendiary and deceptive talking points to attack American sovereignty.
The church’s stated goal is to provoke a specific political conversation, claiming it hopes the display will spur on discussion about “what sanctuary means when families fleeing violence are met with separation, detention, and dehumanization.” It then makes the central, flawed claim that underpins the entire progressive argument, asserting, “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.” This is, in fact, a profound political and historical misinterpretation. As noted, Jesus was born in his family’s ancestral homeland, and his parents fled temporarily to another province within the same empire to escape a specific, murderous decree—a reality utterly dissimilar to the current context of global migration and sovereign border enforcement. The church concludes its manifesto by stating, “By witnessing this familiar story through the reality faced by migrants today, we hope to restore its radical edge, and to ask what it means to celebrate the birth of a refugee child while turning away those who follow in his footsteps.” This rhetoric is designed to guilt Christians into supporting lawless borders, a ploy rejected by believers who understand that true compassion requires order, security, and the robust, legal immigration system President Trump is rebuilding.
A review of this institution’s activities reveals it is not a church in any traditional sense, but a hub for left-wing political activism masquerading as spirituality. It practices a “progressive Christian theology” that is, according to reports, completely devoid of core Christian doctrines like the divinity of Christ, His atoning sacrifice, and salvation by grace through faith. Its website and social media are dedicated to “social justice” trainings, “anti-racism” efforts, and studies on Buddhism and New Age beliefs, alongside open support for abortion, transgender ideology, and special “Gay Pride” services. One of its central missions is “Walking With Detained Immigrants,” which involves “offering direct support to immigrants who have been detained.” The church proudly declares it became a “Sanctuary Church” in 2014 and is “currently home to an immigrant family in the process of asylum.” This is not a house of God; it is a satellite office for the radical open-borders lobby, and its perversion of the Nativity is a spiritual and patriotic obscenity that stands in direct opposition to the law, order, and national sovereignty championed by the Trump administration.
h/t: Steadfast and Loyal
