Church Goes Viral After Displaying Baby Jesus Zip-Tied and Guarded by Figures Styled as ICE Agents

A church in Illinois has come under heavy criticism after a wrapped baby Jesus figure was displayed with its hands zip-tied, guarded by statues styled to resemble Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

The church, identified as Lake Street Church, placed the doll outside its premises with its hands tightly secured and wrapped in a thin blanket designed to look like aluminium foil. According to the church, the foil is meant to symbolize the emergency blankets reportedly used in migrant detention facilities.

The guards in the display, though officers of the ancient Roman army, were intentionally depicted wearing sunglasses and green vests labeled “ICE”, drawing a clear parallel between the biblical story and modern-day immigration enforcement.

In a statement released on their Facebook page, it reads: “Thanks to Loretta, Kelli, Jack, and Miller for their help setting up our nativity display this morning.
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.

“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 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 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 installation is not subtle because the crisis it addresses is not abstract. We hope viewers will join the conversation about what sanctuary means when families fleeing violence are met with separation, detention, and dehumanization. We further hope that conversation will move people to action, regardless of faith or philosophical background.

“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. 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 that child’s footsteps.”