By Gloria Ogbonna
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) ignited widespread controversy on Christmas Day after sharing a politically charged post that likened Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to illegal migrants, using a provocative image of the Nativity scene being raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In a post published on X, Swalwell wrote, “May this be the last Christmas we live this nightmare,” alongside an image depicting spray-painted ICE agents forcefully entering the Bethlehem stable where Jesus was born. The artwork portrayed the Holy Family as victims of modern immigration enforcement, a comparison that immediately drew sharp criticism from religious leaders, conservatives, and many Christians who accused the congressman of politicizing the birth of Christ.
Critics were quick to note that the Bible does not describe Mary and Joseph as illegal immigrants. Scripture clearly explains that their journey to Bethlehem was undertaken in compliance with Roman law, not in defiance of it. According to the Gospel of Luke, the couple traveled because Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus ordered a census, requiring all individuals to return to their ancestral towns to register.
The passage reads:
“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city.
So Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David.” (Luke 2:1–4)
Many Christian scholars argue that labeling the Holy Family as “illegal migrants” misrepresents the biblical and historical context of Christ’s birth. While it is often claimed in progressive political discourse that Jesus was a refugee, critics maintain that this framing is incomplete and misleading.
As previously explained by Breitbart News contributor Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D., Jesus was born in Joseph’s ancestral hometown of Bethlehem, in full compliance with Roman census requirements. After His birth, Mary and Joseph fled with the infant Jesus to escape King Herod’s order to kill all male children in the region.
The family temporarily settled in Egypt, which at the time was also part of the Roman Empire, before returning to Galilee following Herod’s death. Jesus spent most of His childhood there, not as a stateless migrant, but within the same imperial system.
Swalwell’s post is not the first instance of a Nativity-themed immigration analogy drawing backlash. Just weeks earlier, a progressive church in Evanston, Illinois, faced criticism after unveiling a Nativity display featuring a zip-tied baby Jesus, Roman soldiers depicted as ICE agents, and Mary and Joseph wearing gas masks.
That church, Lake Street Church of Evanston, defended its display in a Facebook post, stating that it was intended to “reimagine the nativity as a scene of forced family separation,” drawing what it described as direct parallels between the Holy Family’s experience and modern immigration detention practices.
For many Christians, however, such depictions cross a line, transforming a sacred religious event into a political statement and, they argue, distorting biblical history to advance contemporary policy debates.
The backlash surrounding Swalwell’s Christmas Day post underscores the ongoing cultural and political tensions surrounding immigration, faith, and the role of religion in public discourse—especially during one of Christianity’s holiest celebrations.
Source Breitbrat
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