Church Nativity scenes add zip ties, gas masks and ICE to protest immigration raids

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — One baby Jesus lays in a manger in the snow, wrapped in a silver emergency blanket with his wrists zip-tied. Mary stands nearby outside the Lake Street Church in Evanston, Illinois, 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, Massachusetts, 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.

For churches, Christmas is a time “when we have public art out on the lawn and we get an opportunity to say something,” said Rev. Michael Woolf, senior minister at Lake Street. Another Nativity scene created by the Baptist congregation one recent year showed Jesus in rubble — a “plea for peace” in Gaza, he said.

St. Susanna parishioners locked baby Jesus in a cage in 2018 to protest how President Donald Trump's first administration was separating families at the border. Another year, they depicted the infant floating in water polluted with plastic to highlight climate change.

Boston Archbishop Richard Henning ordered this year's display taken down. As of Thursday, Father Steve Josoma was seeking a meeting and had yet to comply.

“The people of God have the right to expect that, when they come to church, they will encounter genuine opportunities for prayer and Catholic worship — not divisive political messaging,” a diocesan spokesperson said.

Some Catholic activists want the priest punished.

“This is really a grave scandal for Catholics, and I think he’s playing with fire,” said C.J. Doyle, director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts. “The archbishop can remove him as pastor, suspend him from active ministry — he can even close the parish and sell the property right out from under him.”

Josoma said the display's purpose is to move “beyond static traditional figures and evoke emotion and dialogue” in response to the fear many parishioners face as federal forces arrest more than undocumented immigrants, sweeping up longtime legal residents and spreading anxiety.

In Illinois, the detention campaign has left bystanders choking on chemical sprays and children traumatized at the site of neighbors and teachers being taken away, prompting state and local investigations.

“We wanted to reflect sort of the reality that our community is experiencing,” Jillian Westerfield, associate minister at the United Methodist church in Evanston.

After the figure of Joseph blew down and was damaged, leaving Mary alone with the baby, they put up an explanatory sign: “Joseph didn't make it. We hold this spaced to honor and remember all the victims of immigration enforcement terror.”

Critics either don't fully understand the message or “find it really challenging to their conscience and are lashing out at the art rather than engaging with what the actual message is,” Westerfield said.

Phil Mandeville, who sits on St. Susanna’s Parish Council and coordinates a multi-church refugee support committee, said long-standing relationships make the parish resolute about keeping the display.

The committee has worked with about 10 refugee families since 2019, helping them find housing, enroll in school, learn English and secure work. Much of the effort is done in partnership with the federal government, which puts families through extensive vetting before they arrive, he said.

“Just to emphasize the reason for all of this — it’s not a stunt,” Mandeville said. “We work on a daily basis with refugees. But people get upset about a bit of plaster. I care more about individuals than I do a manger scene. I understand what it represents — I don’t understand why no one cares about these human beings.”

“Look at the Gospel just before Christ was executed — that was political,” he added. “We were always taught: when you’re unsure how to act, ask, ‘What would Christ do?’ Now we’re doing that, and it doesn’t seem to jibe.”

The controversy in Evanston drew volunteers from a nearby synagogue, who stood outside during Lake Street's services to help worshippers feel safe. Reactions outside the Dedham church ranged widely.

Walter Niland snapped a selfie and said he disagreed with the display. “I believe that the church enjoys a tax-exempt status,” said Niland, a Catholic from a neighboring town. “We should speak to spiritual matters, not matters of political division.”

Others came to challenge the parish directly — including one man who livestreamed his attempt to pull on locked church doors.

Steve Grieger, a former Catholic schoolteacher, drove an hour from Worcester to show his support.

“The Archdiocese says, ‘Oh no, that goes against our tradition.’ Well, we’re living in times that are totally abnormal. We can’t just proceed as normal,” Grieger said. “If we’re following the scriptures of Jesus, then we have to recognize that these ICE raids, and all of these terrible things going on, are totally against that.”

Bargfeld reported from Evanston.

A mannequin representing a Roman solider wears a mask in the Nativity scene outside of Lake Street Church of Evanston, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Evanston, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

An "ICE WAS HERE" sign is posted in the spot for the baby Jesus at a nativity display at St. Susanna Church, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A "PEACE ON EARTH?" sign is posted on the top of a nativity display, which features an ICE WAS HERE sign in the spot for the baby Jesus, outside St. Susanna Church, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A mannequin representing the Mother Mary wears a mask in the Nativity scene outside of Lake Street Church of Evanston, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Evanston, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

The Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf sits in his office at Lake Street Church of Evanston, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Evanston, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A sign of explanation is part of the Nativity scene outside of Lake Street Church of Evanston, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Evanston, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A mannequin representing the Mother Mary wears a mask in the Nativity scene outside of Lake Street Church of Evanston, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Evanston, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

An "ICE WAS HERE" sign is posted in the spot for the baby Jesus at a nativity display at St. Susanna Church, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A doll representing the baby Jesus is zip-tied in the Nativity scene outside of Lake Street Church of Evanston, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Evanston, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

BALTIMORE (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia was due to check-in with immigration authorities on Friday, some 14 hours after he was released from detention on a judge's orders.

Abrego Garcia became a flashpoint of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown earlier this year when he was wrongly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. He was last taken into custody in August during a similar check-in.

He's scheduled to appear in the morning at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore.

The agency freed him just before 5 p.m. on Thursday in response to a ruling from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland, who wrote federal authorities detained him after his return to the United States without any legal basis.

Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years. He immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager to join his brother, who had become a U.S. citizen. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported back to his home country, where he faces danger from a gang that targeted his family.

While he was allowed to live and work in the U.S. under ICE supervision, he was not given residency status. Earlier this year, he was mistakenly deported and held in a notoriously brutal Salvadoran prison despite having no criminal record.

Facing mounting public pressure and a court order, Trump’s Republican administration brought him back to the U.S. in June, but only after issuing an arrest warrant on human smuggling charges in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and asked a federal judge there to dismiss them.

The 2019 settlement found he had a “well founded fear” of danger in El Salvador if he was deported there. So instead ICE has been seeking to deport him to a series of African countries. Abrego Garcia has sued, claiming the Trump administration is illegally using the removal process to punish him for the public embarrassment caused by his deportation.

In her order releasing Abrego Garcia, Xinis wrote that federal authorities “did not just stonewall” the court, “They affirmatively misled the tribunal.” Xinis also rejected the government’s argument that she lacked jurisdiction to intervene on a final removal order for Abrego Garcia, because she found no final order had been filed.

ICE freed Abrego Garcia from Moshannon Valley Processing Center, about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh, on Thursday just before the deadline Xinis gave the government to provide an update on Abrego Garcia's release.

He returned home to Maryland a few hours later.

Check-ins are how ICE keeps track of some people who are released by the government to pursue asylum or other immigration cases as they make their way through a backlogged court system. The appointments were once routine but many people have been detained at their check-ins since the start of President Donald Trump's second term.

Abrego Garcia's attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said he’s prepared to defend his client against further deportation efforts.

“The government still has plenty of tools in their toolbox, plenty of tricks up their sleeve,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, adding he fully expects the government to again take steps to deport his client. “We’re going to be there to fight to make sure there is a fair trial.”

The Department of Homeland Security sharply criticized Xinis' order and vowed to appeal, calling the ruling “naked judicial activism” by a judge appointed during the Obama administration.

“This order lacks any valid legal basis, and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary.

Sandoval-Moshenberg said the judge made it clear that the government can’t detain someone indefinitely without legal authority and that his client “has endured more than anyone should ever have to.”

Abrego Garcia has also applied for asylum in the U.S. in immigration court.

Abrego Garcia was hit with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling charges when the U.S. government brought him back from El Salvador. Prosecutors alleged he accepted money to transport within the United States people who were in the country illegally.

The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.

A Department of Homeland Security agent testified at an earlier hearing that he did not begin investigating the traffic stop until after the U.S. Supreme Court said in April that the Trump administration must work to bring back Abrego Garcia.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, center, and his brother Cesar Abrego Garcia, left, arrive at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)

Kilmar Abrego García arrives to his home in Beltsville, Md., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, after being released from ICE custody. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Kilmar Abrego García arrives to his home in Beltsville, Md., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, after being released from ICE custody. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Kilmar Abrego García arrives to his home in Beltsville, Md., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, after being released from ICE custody. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)