Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, according to Christian belief, has been replaced in an Evanston church’s Nativity scene by a memorial to victims of injustice committed by federal immigration agents, church officials said, including a man who was shot and killed in Franklin Park by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel.
“Joseph didn’t make it,” reads a sign in Lake Street Church of Evanston’s outdoor Nativity, placed where a Joseph figure had earlier stood.
Snowfall damaged a Nativity scene outside Lake Street Church of Evanston, with snow wrecking the Joseph figure. The church had created the Nativity with baby Jesus’ hands zip-tied, Mary and Joseph wearing gas masks and centurions dressed as ICE agents. Now, a sign in Joseph’s stead is a memorial to victims of immigration enforcement without due process. (Jillian Westerfield)
When the church first created the Nativity scene in late November, the Joseph and Mary figures wore gas masks, baby Jesus’ hands were zip-tied, and masked centurions with “ICE” marked on their vests loomed behind them.
Church officials said then they were drawing a parallel between the Holy Family’s refugee experience and the immigrants of today.
Apparent vandalism and heavy snowfall damaged the scene, however, with the weather wrecking the Joseph figure so that it could no longer stand properly, said Rev. Michael Woolf, pastor. He also said he was certain someone had removed the zip ties on baby Jesus’ hands, and added that the gas masks were nowhere to be found.
The church decided to replace the Joseph figure with a memorial to Silverio Villegas González and other victims of federal immigration agents, Woolf said, and Rev. Jillian Westerfield, associate pastor, and others created it, and also replaced Jesus’ zip ties and Mary’s gas mask.
Villegas González, 38, was pulled over in Franklin Park by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Sept. 12. DHS officials said Villegas González drove his car toward the agents, who shot and killed the father of two.
The sign at the Nativity in Joseph’s former spot reads, in part, “We hold this space to honor and remember all the victims of immigration enforcement terror. Everyone who has been deported. Everyone who has disappeared. Everyone who has been denied medical care. Everyone who has had to go into hiding. Everyone who has seen these things happen to friends, family, and neighbors.”
Woolf also said, “We were grateful to have a group of folks from Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston guard our nativity during (10:30 a.m. Sunday) worship, and that show of support really meant a lot to us.”
Lake Street Church has also scheduled an outdoor prayer vigil for 6:15 p.m. Wednesday “where we expect a good group of interfaith folks to support this nativity and its message as we lament and build resilience and pray for all the victims of ICE terror,” Woolf said.
Snowfall damaged a Nativity scene outside Lake Street Church of Evanston, wrecking the Joseph figure. The church had created the Nativity with baby Jesus’ hands zip-tied, Mary and Joseph wearing gas masks and centurions dressed as ICE agents. Now, a sign in Joseph’s stead is a memorial to victims of immigration enforcement without due process. (Jillian Westerfield)
He said the Nativity scene has received support from Evanston and Chicago-area people, who have lived through the experience of the federal government’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” when federal immigration agents pulled people, including some citizens, off of streets and arrested and detained and deported many from September through November.
Woolf said last week, after the Nativity went up, that it had attracted controversy from some out-of-state, right-wing media outlets.
The church announced on Facebook Nov. 25 that it had assembled the Nativity scene that draws “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 (infant’s) 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.”
Breitbart, a conservative-leaning outlet, wrote on Dec. 2 that “the display echoes a prevalent left-wing claim that Jesus was a refugee, which is considered by many Christians to be historically inaccurate.”
On the Sean Hannity Show, Hannity told his listening audience that the church’s nativity scene was “truly horrifying,” and that “the war on Christmas is back.”
“Could you be even more offensive?” Hannity said, describing the Nativity scene.
Associate Minister Jillian Westerfield, who designed the Nativity set, said it is supposed to be offensive.
“It is offensive, because this is happening to real people, she said. “The things that we’re showing are not imaginary, and you should be offended that this is happening to God’s children right now all over our country.”
Westerfield said that local reaction to the Nativity set is positive because the message resonates with people who have experienced the fear that federal immigration agents brought to the streets in recent months.
“They understand very clearly what we’re trying to say and what we’re trying to show,” she said.
“Some people disagree with what we’ve done here, and some people agree with us far away,” Westerfield added. “I think it’s natural that this kind of thing is going to evoke emotional responses in people.”
Woolf said that the church has received some vaguely threatening phone calls, but it hasn’t affected the church’s mission.
A figure of baby Jesus in a Nativity scene has zip-tied hands and is covered in an emergency blanket at the Lake Street Church of Evanston. The church’s leadership chose to depict the Nativity set as an homage to people facing “Operation Midway Blitz.” This photo was taken before snow did damage to the scene and the zip ties disappeared in apparent vandalism. The church has replaced them. (Jillian Westerfield)
“I think that what we really want to focus on is that what really profanes the image of God is the things that are happening in Chicagoland and what has been happening,” Woolf said, referring to “Operation Midway Blitz.”
The church and its leadership have made political statements and taken actions in the past. A week into President Donald Trump’s second term in office, Woolf announced that it would take in immigrant refugees and keep them out of reach of immigration agents without a judicial warrant. In November, Woolf and a group of other religious leaders were arrested in Broadview after they stepped into a restricted area outside of a site designated by the village of Broadview as permissible protest areas. Woolf and 20 others were charged with misdemeanor violations.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/09/jesus-zip-ties-taken-evanston-church-updates-nativity/
