“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” reads the plaque at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty.
“The Mother of Exile” has long come to symbolize hope and America’s acceptance of foreigners for the generations of immigrants who have come to its shores in search for a better life.
But the message was apparently not strong enough for a group of activists, who decided to hoist a giant red and white “Refugees Welcome” banner on the statue’s pedestal Tuesday afternoon — day that the Department of Homeland Security announced expanded immigration enforcement policies.
The 3ft by 20ft sign was unfurled across from the public observation deck on Liberty Island at approximately 12.45pm. It was taken down by the National Park Service (NPS) about an hour later but images of it quickly made rounds on social media.
Attaching unauthorized signs to national monuments is strictly prohibited and police are investigating the incident, National Park Service spokesman Jerry Willis told reporters.
An activist group calling itself Alt Lady Liberty claimed responsibility for the action on Twitter.
Wow. Our message #RefugeesWelcome is getting out across the country!!
We will resist @realDonaldTrump's hateful EOs.#NoBanNoWall#Resist https://t.co/1tNK2jx0Ln
— Alt Lady Liberty (@AltStatLiberty) February 22, 2017
“We have no formal group, just private citizens who felt like we needed to say something about the America we believe in,” the group stated in a email to local station NBC 4 New York.
The stunt immediately became a hot topic on social media, receiving accolades from street artist Banksy (“Shout out to whoever did this”), several journalists and organizations with a clear pro-immigration stance such as Greenpeace USA.
Many Twitter users celebrated the “refugees welcome” sign, saying it was an act of “love” and “patriotism” and suggesting that the Statue of Liberty had become “woke” by joining “the resistance.”
Others, however, saw it as an act of vandalism that should be severely prosecuted.
The Statue of Liberty welcomed 14 million immigrants into the United States between 1886 and 1924.
The direct action followed the announcement by the Trump administration to widen the net for deporting illegal immigrants from the US, regardless of whether they have committed crimes or not.
Trump is also expected to reveal a revised travel ban cracking down on immigration this week after the first version of his executive order on immigration was barraged by the courts.
