Minneapolis police chief draws scorn for using Nativity story to attack ICE: 'False teaching'

The Minneapolis police chief drew scorn for likening Mary and Joseph to illegal immigrants during a Tuesday press conference railing against law enforcement in the city by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Flanked by Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara appealed to the Nativity story to criticize ICE raids in Minneapolis, where dozens of residents clashed with ICE agents earlier this week.

"It's especially personal to me, having been raised a Catholic, to be in a Christian church this morning, as we are approaching Christmas," said O'Hara, who has served in his position since 2022.

"And I cannot help but think of what is happening in our city today, and how that echoes with how outsiders have been treated for thousands of years; how Mary and Joseph themselves were considered outsiders, and forced to stay in a barn," he continued.

"That's what we're getting ready to commemorate as Christians around the world, while all of this fear is happening in our town," he added.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara joined Mayor Jacob Frey and religious leaders to discuss the impact of the Trump administration's immigration policies on the city’s immigrant residents and businesses.

O'Hara reiterated that officers do not inquire about immigration status,… pic.twitter.com/FKwJkaqK8L

— FOX 9 (@FOX9) December 16, 2025

Minneapolis has been a particular target for federal immigration enforcement in recent weeks, especially among the city's sizable Somali community, which was reportedly involved heavily in a fraud scheme amounting to more than $1 billion in Minnesota's social services funds.

O'Hara's Scripture lesson drew widespread backlash on social media from users who observed that Mary and Joseph were not illegal immigrants, but were instead in Bethlehem to obey a government decree to register for the Roman census in the town of Joseph's ancestors for the purpose of being taxed.

"This is called eisegesis and false teaching," said Christian writer Jon Root. "Comparing Mary & Joseph to illegal Mexican immigrants is obviously a false equivalency, revisionist history, & insanely disrespectful to Jesus' parents."

"Neither Mary, nor Joseph, immigrated illegally to Bethlehem. They broke no laws. They traveled there for the Roman census, because Joseph was of the House of David. You could simply read Luke 2:1-7, Mr. Minneapolis Police Chief," he added.

"The Minneapolis Police Chief should leave theology and history to theologians and historians. In no sense can Mary & Joseph be described as 'immigrants' or 'refugees,'" said Paul Edwards, who pastors a Reformed Baptist congregation in Michigan. "And Jesus wasn't born in a barn. He was laid in a manger. There's a huge difference."

Garrett Greene, an attorney at the America First Policy Institute, explained how Mary and Joseph went out of their way to comply with the law and why he believes O'Hara is politically weaponizing a misapplication of the Bible.

"The Roman Empire took registration seriously — it was how they tracked population for taxation and governance. So when the census order came down, Mary and Joseph did what law-abiding people do: they complied," he said, noting how the couple had to travel roughly 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem — a trek he said would have been especially inconvenient given the late stage of Mary's pregnancy.

"Mary and Joseph weren't sneaking across borders. They weren't evading authorities. They weren't 'undocumented.' They were traveling within the same empire, under the same legal system, specifically to register with the government."

"Don't let the Bible be weaponized by people who don't even subscribe to its most basic teachings so they can justify a continued invasion of our country and denigration of our culture," Greene added.

The Christian Post has reached out to the Minneapolis Police Department for comment and will update this story if a response is received.

O'Hara drew scrutiny earlier this month when he urged residents to call 911 in response to federal immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities.

"We have experienced reports in this city … where people call to say that there's folks that are masked, that they’re not sure if they’re law enforcement, that they may be kidnapping people. We have had those reports," O'Hara said during the Dec. 3 presser that the New York Post described as "baffling."