A Nativity scene depicting baby Jesus with zip-tied hands and masked centurions with sunglasses labeled ICE and BP stands outside Lake Street Church of Evanston on Dec. 15, 2025. Lake Street Church and its leaders have been vocal critics of President Donald Trump’s administration and Operation Midway Blitz. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Vandals decapitated and smashed the statue of Mary in an Evanston church’s outdoor Nativity scene Friday, and the church responded, according to an associate minister, by replacing it with a sign saying Mary was beaten and dragged away in front of her son and is being held in immigration detention.
Lake Street Church of Evanston began sparking discussion in late November when it created the immigration-themed Nativity scene, with masked Roman centurions dressed as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Mary and Joseph wearing gas masks to protect against ICE tear gas and baby Jesus with zip-tied hands. The centurions were also destroyed in Friday’s vandalism, but the church rebuilt them.
Church leaders have said the Nativity is meant to draw a parallel between the Holy Family, who were immigrants or refugees to Egypt when they fled Bethlehem to escape King Herod’s bloodshed, in Biblical texts, and ICE’s “Operation Midway Blitz” this fall, in which agents pulled hundreds of immigrants and some citizens off Chicago-area streets, sometimes violently, detained them in harsh conditions and deported many.
“Having people respond negatively like this — I think (the Nativity display) is stirring people’s consciences,” said Rev. Jillian Westerfield, associate minister at the church. “We’re calling out what’s happening to God’s beloved people and they don’t like how that feels, so they respond by attacking the art.”
Friday’s vandalism of the Christmas scene was the second time the Nativity figures have been attacked. At the beginning of December, someone removed Mary and Joseph’s gas masks and the zip ties from baby Jesus’ hands. The heavy post-Thanksgiving snowfall also damaged the Joseph statue, Rev. Michael Woolf, pastor, said at the time, and the church removed it and replaced it with a memorial to victims of unjust immigration enforcement. They also put up a sign saying, “Joseph didn’t make it.”
On Dec. 12, Westerfield said vandals basically flattened the whole display, taking the ICE agents’ vests, leaving the Mary statue with its head and hair scattered on the ground and removing the baby Jesus figure’s zip ties and emergency blanket, though they left the figure in its cradle.
Vandals destroyed most of the Nativity scene at Lake Street Church of Evanston that showed Roman centurions as federal immigration agents, Mary wearing a gas mask to protect against tear gas and the baby Jesus with his hands zip-tied. Church leaders said it reflected what many immigrants experienced during Operation Midway Blitz. After this photo was taken Dec. 12, 2025, the church replaced Mary with a sign indicating she was beaten and detained by immigration agents. (Jillian Westerfield)
A Nativity scene depicting baby Jesus with zip-tied hands sits outside Lake Street Church of Evanston on Dec. 15, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
A sign describing what happened to Mary sits at a Nativity scene depicting baby Jesus with zip-tied hands and masked centurions outside Lake Street Church of Evanston on Dec. 15, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
A sign describing what happened to Joseph sits at a Nativity scene depicting baby Jesus with zip-tied hands outside Lake Street Church of Evanston on Dec. 15, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
A masked centurion labeled ICE stands outside Lake Street Church of Evanston near a Nativity scene depicting baby Jesus with zip-tied hands on Dec. 15, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
The Rev. Michael Woolf in front of a Nativity scene outside Lake Street Church of Evanston on Dec. 4, 2025. The Nativity scene depicts masked centurions wearing federal immigration agent vests, surrounding baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph. Woolf said someone likely stole the zip ties binding Jesus' hands and the respirator worn by Mary. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
A figurine of baby Jesus in a Nativity set depicted as a youth zip-tied and covered in a thermal blanket at the Lake Street Church of Evanston. The church's leadership choose to depict the Nativity set as an homage to people facing Operation Midway Blitz. (Jillian Westerfield)
The Lake Street Church of Evanston's leadership depicted the Holy Family in the 2025 holiday season's Nativity set as protesters against ICE and federal immigration officers. In this rendition, Mary wears a mask to protect herself from tear gas deployed by centurions depicted as ICE agents. (Jillian Westerfield)
A woman walks past a Nativity scene outside Lake Street Church of Evanston on Dec. 4, 2025. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
A masked centurion wearing a federal immigration agent vest is part of a Nativity scene outside Lake Street Church of Evanston on Dec. 4, 2025. The nativity scene depicts agents surrounding baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph. The Rev. Michael Woolf said someone stole the zip ties binding Jesus' hands and the respirator worn by Mary. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Faith leaders and volunteers chose to depict the Holy Family protesting an ICE detention center as the 2025 season'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. These photos were taken before the Nov. 29 snowstorm. (Jillian Westerfield)
According to biblical texts, centurions were ordered by King Herod to kill the infant Jesus. An Evanston church is drawing parallels to the Christmas story, with people arrested and detained by ICE during Operation Midway Blitz. (Jillian Westerfield)
1 of 12
Vandals destroyed most of the Nativity scene at Lake Street Church of Evanston that showed Roman centurions as federal immigration agents, Mary wearing a gas mask to protect against tear gas and the baby Jesus with his hands zip-tied. Church leaders said it reflected what many immigrants experienced during Operation Midway Blitz. After this photo was taken Dec. 12, 2025, the church replaced Mary with a sign indicating she was beaten and detained by immigration agents. (Jillian Westerfield)
She and a volunteer worked to reassemble the centurions from the remains of the parts lying on the ground, she said. With the vests missing, they improvised by labeling the figures’ t-shirts with “ICE” and “BP” for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, another agency which seized and detained Chicago-area immigrants this fall.
The Nativity now contains only the centurions and baby Jesus, zip ties replaced.
The spirit of the display references the Christian prayer the Magnificat, known as the prayer of Mary, Westerfield said. It includes the verses, “He (the Lord) has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.”
She added, “This is about God’s promises to the weakest and most vulnerable in the world…God is always on the side of the most vulnerable.”
The Nativity has received coverage in national news, and Westerfield said that is helping to shine a light on what has happened in the Chicago area with immigration enforcement.
“Maybe it’ll help people take more action to protect the most vulnerable, and that’s what we really hope happens,” she said.
