Karen Clark Ristine, senior minister at Claremont United Methodist Church, shared photos of the Nativity scene on her Facebook page on December 7.
In the photo’s description, she added a theological statement that accompanied the display: “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. Shortly after the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary were forced to flee with their young son from Nazareth to Egypt to escape King Herod, a tyrant. They feared persecution and death.”
“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,” the post continues.
According to the statement, another Nativity scene inside the church shows the family reunited.
In October, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) revealed that the total number of children separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border since July 2017 is more than 5,400, prompting harsh criticism from rights groups and lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican Parties.
Following significant political blowback against the unpopular practice of separating children, including infants, from their parents, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that purportedly stopped the separations last year. However, according to watchdog group Texas Civil Rights Project, migrant families at the US-Mexico border continue to be separated by US officials, many times over “uncorroborated allegations” of crimes.
"Family separations are still very much happening in the southern border, they’re still being torn apart by the US government," Efrén Olivares, director of racial and economic justice at the Texas Civil Rights Project, told NBC News in February.
The Trump administration is also in the process of building a wall on the US-Mexico border. So far, about 80 miles of the barrier have been completed, with a goal of constructing another 400 to 500 miles.
