Indianapolis church places Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus inside cage to protest Trump immigration policies

An Indiana church on Tuesday placed statues of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus inside a barricaded fence as a way to protest President Trump’s immigration policies. 

RTV6, a local ABC affiliate, reported that Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis locked up the statues as part of its “Every Family is Holy” campaign. 

{mosads}The ABC affiliate notes that the campaign is intended to bring awareness to and rebuke Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Holy Family #Detention: Indy’s @CCCathedralIndy puts Joseph, Mary & Jesus inside a fence on its lawn. When asked how long the display will remain, Dean @Steve_Carlsen said “My greatest hope would be that we, our nation, will search its heart & say this is not who we want to be.” pic.twitter.com/AgcOZv4xSz

— Michael R. Hartz (@MikeThePhotog) July 3, 2018

“They were a homeless family with nowhere to stay,” Carlson told the news outlet of Joseph, Mary and Jesus.

“I think our faith tells us where we need to be. The fact that it’s controversial isn’t because I want to be controversial. What’s controversial is that we’re turning away from the values that should be guiding us. The point of a religious icon is to move our hearts. If at first, people are upset by it, that might just be God trying to move their hearts. I hope their hearts soften.”

When asked by ABC how long the statues would remain inside the fence, Carlson responded: “How long are we going to keep detaining families indefinitely?”

The protest from Christ Church Cathedral comes about two weeks after Trump signed an executive order that stopped his administration’s practice of separating families at the southern border. 

But thousands of children had been separated from their families by the time the president signed the order and many lawmakers have pressed the president’s administration on how parents and children will be reunited. Many have also have aimed further scrutiny on the conditions at the detention facilities migrants are being held in. 

In late June, a federal judge ordered that the Trump administration must immediately move to reunify immigrant families that were separated under the administration’s zero tolerance policy.