“FUCK ICE” is projected onto the gymnasium wall inside Harmony School. In front of the projection, Annie Babie, an indie-rock band from Bloomington and Indianapolis, plays an electric guitar solo that rips through the crowd and can be heard down the street.
While the music goes on, IU sophomores Hannah Knight and Nicholas Heller hold cameras, filming the crowd watching the band. In the middle of the mob, IU sophomore Olivia Soto squeezes through the huddle of around 50 college-aged audience members, who bob to the music as she gathers footage for her upcoming documentary, “Jesus Christ Against ICE.”
For “Jesus Christ Against ICE,” the documentary crew plans to capture live footage of anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests, local shows and interviews with church leaders to explore ICE’s use of religious messaging.
Soto said part of her inspiration for the documentary was growing up Mexican American in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and experiencing racial prejudice. Soto also wanted to make the documentary after seeing agencies connected to ICE, like the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that oversees ICE, posting social media content containing Bible verses, which she felt were out of context.
“The original kind of viewpoint I wanted to take with the documentary was more about Christian nationalism and how the Trump administration and organizations like (Turning Point USA) TPUSA, how they have kind of skewed the words of Jesus and of verses in the Bible to emphasize the good they think they’re doing,” Soto said.
After following what was happening with ICE on the news, Soto and about 12 students began planning the documentary.
ICE’s actions, specifically the treatment of immigrants in detention centers and the fatal shooting of two individuals by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis have caused controversy and protest.
Knight, an aspiring documentarian, heard about “Jesus Christ Against ICE” through a friend working on another film with Soto and wanted to help after talking with her and agreeing with her standpoint on religion and ICE.
“People look at religious texts like the Bible, and they look at other religious texts as well, and they use it out of context so heavily. Jesus said, ‘Love thy neighbor,’” Knight said. “People in the media have been using Christianity and religion against immigrants and against people that are immigrants in the United States.”
Heller, who acted in a role in another of Soto’s upcoming films, went to an anti-ICE protest on Jan. 30 in downtown Bloomington to gather footage for the documentary.
Heller said while the protest was mostly non-violent, it did stick out to him that an anti-ICE protestor was yielding a shotgun, wrapped around him “like a shawl,” and guarding other protestors. Police arrested a 42-year-old Ellettsville man for allegedly pointing a firearm at and pepper spraying people at this protest, the Indiana Daily Student earlier reported.
Although he agrees that ICE should enforce legal immigration laws and doesn’t think people should be in the U.S. illegally, Heller said he wanted to help out with the documentary because he noticed agents were being “violent.” Since September, DHS officers have shot 14 people, killing four, according to NBC.
“Whether it's a citizen or not, you know, people are people,” Heller said. “And I just don't like how brutal and invasive ICE is being. And I'm a Christian. I don't agree that people should be this harsh, like, you know, Jesus preached to love and kindness.”
Heller said he wants people to see the documentary as a message of hope.
Along with events like the anti-ICE protest, Soto plans to have the group schedule interviews with church leaders and members of the Bloomington community after IU’s spring break mid-March.
“There are some people who are in favor of what Trump is doing, and there are definitely people who are not in favor,” Soto said. “And so I feel like I have a unique standpoint where I could reach a very diverse group of people, especially being Hispanic, I want to try to help my community as well.”
Soto made two films prior to “Jesus Christ Against ICE,” both of which she wrote, directed, edited and acted in. She started in high school with "Metanoia,” a short film that explores a couple’s separation. “Metanoia” won Best High School Moving Picture at the Indiana Youth Film Festival in Indianapolis last summer.
She’s also wrapping up edits on a 20-minute film called “Teenage Transgression,” which she plans to release and screen after spring break. It follows a couple as they navigate their relationship and religious values.
Soto says both short films and “Jesus Christ Against ICE” explore human experience.
“‘Jesus Christ against ICE’ is how people, especially people of the faith, react differently to injustice and how they interpret Bible verses,” Soto said.
This year, on Valentine’s Day weekend, Soto recalls being at Hoosier Awakening, a St. Paul’s Catholic Center retreat, when someone insulted her high school in Fort Wayne.
Soto said the person who called her high school “ghetto” came from a wealthier private school while her high school, South Side High School, was a public school with a more diverse demographic. Soto said growing up, South Side often was perceived as “violent.”
“I definitely try to take that experience and use it as a learning curve,” Soto said. “The work that I'm trying to do is very important, because when you go to a retreat where you are expecting to be welcomed and expecting no prejudice, no hate, and you still are met with that even in a place of community. These are like-minded people, we're all there for the same reason. It just reminds me that we didn't all grow up looking at each other as equals.”
Soto, Knight and Heller plan to release and screen “Jesus Christ Against ICE” in the upcoming fall.
