French politician calls for return of Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty was given as a gift by France, the United States’s oldest ally, to celebrate our centennial anniversary as an independent state. Now, as the US moves toward its quarter-millennial anniversary, Member of the European Parliament Raphaël Glucksmann is asking for it back.

Glucksmann said to supporters he would tell Americans that, “We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home.” 

The statue was originally called La liberté éclairant le monde (Liberty Enlightening the World). Due to its placement on Liberty Island, a short distance from Ellis Island, once the largest immigrant inspection and processing station, and the bronze plaque beneath the statue featuring the pro-refugee poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, many in the Anglosphere have framed Glucksmann’s statement as a French condemnation of US immigration policies. The context of Glucksmann’s remarks, however, tells a different story.

“We’re going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: ‘give us back the Statue of Liberty,’” Glucksmann said.

Glucksmann’s call for the statue’s return seems to have nothing to do with immigration therefore, but rather the firing of American researchers. Since the Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE) entered the scene, federal research jobs have been terminated at a rapid pace. The BBC reported that the National Science Foundation fired 168 people, or about 10 percent of its permanent workforce, in a single day in February, while the Department of Health and Human Services has removed about 5,200 probationary employees.

Glucksmann is not without influence in France. He is the leader of Place Publique, a socialist party that holds six seats in the European Parliament and is the third-largest list nationally. He also may be using this stunt as an invitation for American researchers to join the French.

“The second thing we’re going to say to the Americans is: ‘if you want to fire your best researchers, if you want to fire all the people who, through their freedom and their sense of innovation, their taste for doubt and research, have made your country the world’s leading power, then we’re going to welcome them,’” Glucksmann added.

Glucksmann’s message has garnered a number of negative responses on social media . Some are telling France that if they want the Statue of Liberty, they’ll have to “come and get it.” Others suggest returning the statue and erecting a new one in its place. The most popular ideas so far: a statue of Christ, a statue of Donald Trump, or, perhaps, simply a “hotter” Statue of Liberty. Apologies to Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who designed the original to resemble his mother.

When White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked today if Trump would return the Statue of Liberty, she responded, “Absolutely not,” before reminding France that the US is the only reason they are not speaking German right now. Us and our trusty Russian allies, of course…