By Vitus Ozoke
Here is the uncomfortable truth. Christianity survives because Joseph disobeyed a tyrant and crossed a border. The plan of salvation exists because an immigrant child survived. Redemption exists because a refugee child lived long enough to grow up. Strip away the refugee, and you erase the faith. Remove the immigrant from the story, and you erase the Gospel. You can’t worship Jesus and despise immigrants without tearing your theology in half. You can’t celebrate Christmas while criminalizing the Nativity. You cannot praise the Prince of Peace while applauding policies that would have destroyed him…”
Today is Christmas, and we celebrate Christ’s holy birth. But even as we do so, let us speak plainly, because clarity is the enemy of hypocrisy. This holy child, born today, did not spend his first nights in peaceful domestic bliss. He spent them fleeing. Jesus’s first act on earth was not a miracle; it was survival. His first identity was not “a savior,” “a teacher,” or “a king.” It was a refugee. Before Jesus ever walked on water, before He turned water into wine, before He ever fed the multitudes, before He ever preached a sermon or healed the sick, He crossed a border to save His life.
That is not a metaphor. That is not liberal theology. That is not woke exegesis. That is not an MSNBC talking point. That is scripture. That is the Gospel of Matthew. An angel came to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee because King Herod is coming for the child.’ The angel did not say ‘apply’; he did not say ‘wait your turn’; he did not say ‘file paperwork’. The angel said ‘flee’ because King Herod and the government were coming for the baby.
And Joseph did what desperate, loving parents have always done when the state becomes a threat to their children – he ran. He ran to Egypt. He gathered Mary and the infant Jesus and crossed the border into Egypt. Which means this much is unavoidable: God became an immigrant. It means, inconveniently for cable news and extremely inconveniently for certain MAGA red hats, God entered human history as a refugee. Not symbolically. Not poetically. Literally.
Pause. Let that sit – and sink.
God. With a diaper bag. Crossing a border. Without documentation.
Now imagine – just imagine – that Joseph didn’t flee to Egypt. Imagine he fled to the United States of America, land of the free, home of the brave, and headquarters of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Joseph would have been stopped at the border. Mary would have been detained. Jesus would have been classified as an “unaccompanied minor.” The angels would have been told to take a number. Jesus would have been separated “for his own safety.” Mary would have been transferred to a detention facility in Ochopee, Florida – what we might call Alligator Alcatraz, because apparently subtlety is no longer a goal. Joseph would have been told that his family would be reunited “soon,” which, in MAGA government time, means never.
And the child? The child would have been lost. Or sick. Or dead in ICE custody. Or quietly placed on an unmarked plane and deported – back to King Herod. Redemption would have been deported to be murdered. And somewhere, a press release would have assured us this was all done humanely.
And yet – and yet – on a Christmas morning like today, a political movement that brands itself as “Christian” and “Evangelical” will gather in churches across America to celebrate the birth of a child they would later raid at school, at church, or in a Home Depot parking lot. They will kneel before a manger. They will sing “O Come All Ye Faithful” to a brown, Middle Eastern baby whose family fled state violence – and then vote for policies that would separate that baby from his parents. They will worship a child whose survival depended entirely on violating their immigration laws. They will praise the Holy Family – and then vote to cage them. This is not irony. This is performance art.
Jesus did not stay put. He never stayed where He was “supposed” to be. His life reads like an immigration map. Born in Bethlehem because of a government census. Raised in Nazareth, a town so insignificant it was mocked (“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”), and forced into Egypt as a refugee. Later moving throughout Galilee, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Nain, Samaria, Tyre, Sidon, and finally Jerusalem – often unwelcome, often suspected, and frequently targeted.
He crossed ethnic, religious, and political boundaries. In Samaria, he spoke to a woman others despised. In Galilee, he healed the sick. In Gentile regions, he cast out demons. Wherever he went, he worked – he taught, healed, fed, and restored. Like immigrants today, Jesus didn’t “take.” He transformed. Immigrants built America’s railroads. Immigrants fuel Silicon Valley. Immigrants staff hospitals, harvest food, and write code. Jesus fed thousands, healed the blind, and raised the dead – yet still wasn’t considered “legal enough” to be left alone – and alive. As with today’s immigrants, Jesus was not accused of what he did, but of who he was. He was criminalized for existing. He was labeled a threat. He was charged with crimes he did not commit. He was surveilled, arrested, tried in bad faith, and executed by the state. Sound familiar?
Donald Trump and today’s MAGA politicians accuse immigrants of poisoning bloodlines, invading America, and committing grotesque acts without evidence – reviving ancient lies with modern microphones. In today’s America, apparently, because we have run out of ideas, Jesus would be accused on cable news of eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio. He would be described as a gang member, a “national security risk,” and a danger to “our way of life.” And the same people who nail crosses to their walls would cheer. The same voices that call themselves “pro-life” would cheer as the immigrant Christ was removed.
So today – Christmas – watch carefully. Watch as MAGA Republicans who champion mass deportations attend church. Watch as they praise the Holy Family while endorsing policies that would have destroyed it. Watch as they worship the immigrant Christ while rejecting immigrants at the border. If MAGA Republicans had governed Judea, there would be no resurrection – only removal. No salvation – only separation. No Gospel – only a case number.
Here is the uncomfortable truth. Christianity survives because Joseph disobeyed a tyrant and crossed a border. The plan of salvation exists because an immigrant child survived. Redemption exists because a refugee child lived long enough to grow up. Strip away the refugee, and you erase the faith. Remove the immigrant from the story, and you erase the Gospel. You can’t worship Jesus and despise immigrants without tearing your theology in half. You can’t celebrate Christmas while criminalizing the Nativity. You cannot praise the Prince of Peace while applauding policies that would have destroyed him. And you certainly can’t claim moral authority while rejecting the very people God once chose to be. They didn’t just reject immigrants. They rejected God – and called it policy. And that, my friends, is not Christianity. That is Herod with a better public relations team.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
Dr. Vitus Ozoke is a lawyer, human rights activist, and public affairs analyst based in the United States. He writes on politics, governance, and the moral costs of leadership failure in Africa.
