Faith leaders and volunteers chose to depict the Holy Family protesting an ICE detention center as this year's Nativity set outside of Lake Street Church in Evanston. Associate Minister Jillian Westerfield said Jesus' birth story is very similar to present day tensions on immigration enforcement in Chicago and around the nation. (Jillian Westerfield)

Mother Mary wearing a respirator mask to protect herself from tear gas. Baby Jesus with zip-tied hands, wrapped in a thin blanket that looks like aluminum foil. Masked centurions with sunglasses and green vests labeled “ICE.”

This is how the Lake Street Church of Evanston chose to assemble its Nativity scene for the Christmas season.
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Westerfield said the feelings about ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, are not just shared by the church’s leadership, but also its congregation. “This is who we are, and this is what’s important to us. And we would be much more afraid to hold back, because ultimately, we feel like we answer to God, not to anyone else,” Westerfield said.
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“We don’t speak for all Christians, but we certainly speak for a certain strand of community that’s trying to take that message and say, ‘If Jesus were born in America right now, what would this nativity set look like?'” Woolf said.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/03/evanston-nativity-baby-jesus-zip-tied-ice-agents/