admin
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara stood in a church this week and compared federal ICE raids in the city to the Nativity story, saying he could not help but think of how “outsiders” like Mary and Joseph have been treated for thousands of years. His remarks were made as federal agents carried out arrests that sparked chaotic confrontations in the streets, and the metaphor — invoking Christianity to defend lawlessness — set off a firestorm of criticism from conservatives and law-and-order voters.
This was not a harmless sermon; it was a political performance by a public official who swore an oath to protect his entire community, not to sermonize about immigration policy from the pulpit. Conservative voices and federal officials quickly pushed back, reminding Americans that ICE has been arresting dangerous criminals even as local leaders hedge their support for enforcement.
The media have shown footage of a tense scene in Minneapolis where federal officers clashed with bystanders, and Chief O’Hara publicly criticized ICE’s tactics as destabilizing and lacking in de-escalation. Fine — tactics matter — but using that moment to romanticize illegal entry while downplaying the victims of violent offenders is a grotesque inversion of priorities for any chief of police.
Worse, the chief delivered these remarks flanked by Mayor Jacob Frey and other local leaders who have signaled defiance of federal enforcement, turning public safety into a politically convenient parade of virtue-signaling. Minneapolis residents who have endured violent crime have every right to ask why their safety is being subordinated to a narrative that elevates illegal actors over law-abiding neighbors.
And let’s be frank: invoking the Nativity to shield policies that make communities less safe is an insult to faith itself. Christians commemorate Mary and Joseph as part of a story about obedience and providence, not as a cover for flouting laws that protect the vulnerable and punish predators; conflating religious symbolism with political advocacy cheapens both religion and public trust.
If city leadership wants to preach compassion, they can do so while still insisting on accountability and cooperating with federal partners to remove dangerous criminals from our streets. The choice is not between faith and enforcement — it is between leadership that keeps citizens safe and officials who bend sacred language to excuse soft-on-crime politics.
Hardworking Minnesotans and Americans everywhere should take note: when elected and appointed officials start substituting scripture for strategy, taxpayers and victims pay the price. It’s time for voters to demand that public safety comes first, that officials stop weaponizing religion for politics, and that law enforcement leaders be held to the duty they swore to perform.
