A California church placed Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in separate cages outside the place of worship to protest immigration policy in the United States.
Claremont United Methodist Church put a political spin on the classic nativity scene as a commentary on Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy that has resulted in family separations at the border. Once inside the church, the family is reunited without cages.
Rev. Karen Clark Ristine, a senior minister at the church, posted a photograph of the “protest nativity.” The display included a plaque that said, “In a time in our country when refugee families seek asylum at our borders and are unwillingly separated from one another, we consider the most well-known refugee family in the world. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, the Holy Family.”
The statement explained that Mary and Joseph had to flee King Herod to keep the infant Jesus safe. The church asked, “What if this family sought refuge in our country today?”
“Imagine Joseph and Mary separated at the border and Jesus no older than two taken from his mother and placed behind the fences of a Border Patrol detention center as more than 5,500 children have been the past three years,” the church wrote.
Ristine also told the Washington Post, “Our intent is to focus on the asylum seekers and the ways they are being greeted and treated and to suggest there might be a more compassionate way to show God’s love. I think as Christians, we have a responsibility to proclaim a narrative that might be counter to what the world thinks.”
She added, “A nativity is the theological equivalent to public art, and the role of public art has always been to offer awareness. Jesus taught us kindness and mercy and the radical welcome of all people.”
The family separation policy at the border has been highly controversial. U.S. law prohibits children from being detained for more than 20 days, which is often not long enough for their adult parents to be processed, leading to separation. Separation also occurs if border agents have reason to believe the child may not be related to the adult they arrived at the border with and are at risk of child trafficking.
Family separation occurred under both President Trump and President Obama, though Trump has received the bulk of the criticism. Some of the facilities used to house the children were built under Obama’s watch, according to his Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.
