On Christmas Eve, while most people were celebrating the birth of Jesus, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in tactical gear were busy dragging a Black pastor out of his car in Lewiston, Maine, and cuffing him on the ground.
WHAT’S GOING ON: Video footage shows multiple ICE agents surrounding a man in his vehicle, demanding to know if he’s a U.S. citizen.
When the man tried to explain he’d already shown his ID and wasn’t the person they were looking for, an agent screamed “Stop talking!” at him. Despite the man insisting he wasn’t in the country illegally—and a bystander vouching for him—agents physically removed him from his car and wrestled him to the ground.
“He’s a pastor, he’s a pastor! You’re beating a pastor!” the witness protested, according to The New Republic. An agent’s chilling response: “Not in this state.”
ICE forcefully detain Pastor on Christmas Eve—even though he showed ID.
— LongTime🤓FirstTime👨💻 (@LongTimeHistory) December 25, 2025
Agents said they had to take him back to office and prove his legal status.
"He's a pastor! You're beating a pastor," witness yells.
"He's not a pastor in this country," agent quips.
"God will judge you,"… pic.twitter.com/lEhZ8NiHms
OF COURSE: This isn’t ICE’s first time going after clergy.
In September, they shot Chicago Reverend David Black—senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago—directly in the face with a pepper ball while he was protesting at an ICE facility. And in August, another Black pastor and Maine resident, Michel Tshimankinda, spent two weeks in jail after being detained by ICE before eventually being released.
Meanwhile, in Yakima, Washington, ICE agents celebrated the holiday by arresting a man loading groceries into his car at a Walmart parking lot—then divvied up his food among themselves.
When a bystander asked if she could notify the man’s wife, an agent sneered, “No, guess he should’ve complied.”
WHY IT MATTERS: This is an administration that constantly postures as defenders of Christianity, that claims religious persecution is its driving concern. And yet here they are, brutalizing pastors on Christmas Eve, stealing groceries from families, and terrorizing communities during the holiest night of the Christian calendar.
The cruelty isn’t a bug—it’s the entire point. As political scientist Norman Ornstein put it: “Fire their asses and arrest them for theft. If there were even a scintilla of decency at DHS, that is what would happen, but there isn’t.”
BOTTOM LINE: Masked men in tactical gear abducting people and looting their belongings isn’t law enforcement—it’s state-sponsored terror with a thin badge of legitimacy. Merry Christmas from Trump’s America.