ICE and empty mangers

This week, The New York Times reported a Catholic parish on a busy street in a wealthy Boston suburb had caused a stir with its Nativity scene. All the familiar elements are there: the shepherds and angels, sheep and hay, the three wise men. But Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus are missing.

In their place is a large sign that says, “ICE WAS HERE.” They also added a question mark to the phrase “Peace on Earth,” painted on a blue banner above the display.

The leaders of St. Susanna Parish in Dedham, Mass., made the decision to modify their Nativity scene in the wake of a surge of ICE arrests earlier this fall in Boston, which was at the forefront of the rolling ICE raids in Democratic-leaning cities across the country in the last few months.

The Nativity outside St. Susanna Parish in Dedham, Mass.. (Courtesy of Fr. Steve Josoma via National Catholic Reporter)

Oddly, despite the fact that the U.S. Catholic Bishops recently issued a rare statement condemning Trump’s aggressive mass deportation campaign, the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston recently told the parish to take down the signage in its Nativity display. Archdiocesan leaders objected that churchgoers “have the right to expect that they will encounter genuine opportunities for prayer and Catholic worship — not divisive political messaging.”

I want to salute the local church leaders for standing firm. Father Stephen Josoma, pastor of the parish, replied to the archdiocese, “That some do not agree with our message does not render our display sacrilegious nor (make it) the cause of any scandal to the faithful.”

The New York Times noted the Catholic parish in Boston was not alone in using Advent and nativity scenes to highlight their opposition to Trump’s mass deportation program and solidarity with immigrants:

Other politically themed Nativity scenes have popped up around the country this Christmas season, including one at a church in Evanston, Ill., that includes a Baby Jesus figure with his hands bound by zip ties. In another Nativity scene near Chicago, Mary, Joseph and Jesus are missing, with a sign telling viewers: “Due to ICE activity in our community, the Holy Family is in hiding.”

While the Catholic bishops may be showing signs of ambivalence, there are signs that Americans overall are sympathetic to these churches who are taking a stand. Last week, PRRI released new analysis of American attitudes on immigration reform that show Americans are rejecting Trump’s dehumanizing, racist rhetoric and harsh immigration policies.

Support for Trump’s immigration policies have dropped across nearly every demographic over the first year of his second term. Today, only 43% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing handling immigration, a decrease of 5 percentage points since March 2025. Notably, the steepest decline in approval over the past year — 11 points — comes from political independents.

The data show Americans overwhelmingly reject Trump’s mass deportation policies. Instead, Americans continue to favor a humane, pragmatic approach to dealing with the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country:

60% of Americans, including 64% of independents, support DACA, allowing immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children to gain legal resident status
60% of Americans, including 61% of independents, support providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants living in the country illegally, provided they meet certain requirements.

And despite Trump’s executive order attacking this longstanding Constitutional principle, two-thirds of Americans (67%), including 71% of independents, favor birthright citizenship, the “U.S. Constitution’s existing guarantee that all children who are born in the United States are automatically granted U.S. citizenship, regardless of their parents’ citizenship status.”

Overall, Americans are not supportive of the increasingly aggressive and violent tactics of ICE. While the country is divided by party, the divides are asymmetric, with independents siding with Democrats and Republicans as outliers.

Only four in 10 Americans (42%) say they have a great deal or some confidence in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement known as ICE, compared with the majority (56%) who have little or no confidence. Republicans express far more confidence in ICE (79%) than independents (37%) or Democrats (16%).
Nearly six in 10 Americans (58%) agree that “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers should not be allowed to conceal their identity with masks or use unmarked vehicles when arresting people,” including most Democrats (84%) and independents (64%), compared with just three in 10 Republicans.
Only one-third of Americans (33%) favor Trump’s indiscriminate ICE raids that arrest and detain undocumented immigrants who have resided in the United States with no criminal record, compared with 63% who oppose. Most Republicans (61%) favor this policy, compared with 26% of independents and 12% of Democrats.

Despite the good news, I continue to be deeply alarmed by the attitudes of white Christians generally and white evangelical Protestants in particular. I continue to be struck, as a social scientist, that it has become virtually impossible to write a survey question about immigration policy that is too harsh for white evangelicals to support.

“It has become virtually impossible to write a survey question about immigration policy that is too harsh for white evangelicals to support.”

Under the sway of Trump’s dehumanizing, racist rhetoric about immigrants, here’s a sampling of the lows to which white evangelical attitudes about undocumented immigrants have sunk today:

Confident in ICE. 62% of white evangelicals say they have a great deal or some confidence in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, compared to 42% of the public.
Approve of masked ICE agents. 62% of white evangelicals agree that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers should be allowed to conceal their identity with masks or use unmarked vehicles when arresting people, compared to 38% of the public.
Favor arresting undocumented immigrants with no criminal record. 57% of white evangelicals favor arresting and detaining undocumented immigrants who have resided in the United States with no criminal record, compared to 33% of the public.
Favor placing undocumented immigrants in internment camps. 57% of white evangelicals agree the federal government should detain immigrants who are in the country illegally in internment camps until they can be deported, compared to 33% of the public.
Favor sending undocumented immigrants to foreign prisons without due process. 52% of white evangelicals favor the U.S. government deporting undocumented immigrants to foreign prisons in El Salvador, Rwanda or Libya without allowing them to challenge their deportation in court, compared to 33% of the public.

A small poster at St. Susanna Parish, placed just below the empty crib, reads, “The Holy Family is safe in the Sanctuary of our Church.” Amen. But for most white evangelical churches who have embraced Trump’s racist, dehumanizing, anti-immigrant rhetoric, the brown-skinned Jesus of the Bible is nowhere to be found this Advent. He’s not safe in the sanctuary of their churches. And he’s certainly not incarnate in the cheap plastic white Baby Jesus lit up in their nativity scenes.