WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday skewered the “low-level” French politician demanding the return of the Statue of Liberty over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
“My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now,” Leavitt jabbed during her weekly presser.
There were audible gasps from reporters following the World War II reference.
The ask to take back the iconic New York statue came from left-leaning French politician Raphaël Glucksmann, per Le Monde, in response to Trump’s immigration policies.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025. AP
“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 recently said, per the French outlet.
“We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home,” he was quoted as saying at a convention of his left-of-center political party, Place Publique.
The statue was given to the US by the French in 1886 in celebration of American Independence, and was one of the first sights for immigrants who came to the US through nearby Ellis Island.
French politician Raphaël Glucksmann asked for the hallowed statue back. AP
The Statue of Liberty is seen from the Staten Island Ferry, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in New York. AP
The head of the Statue of Liberty on display in the garden at the Champ de Mars at the World’s Fair in Paris to drum up support and contributions for the completion of the great project, 1878. Getty Images
Glucksmann has been a vocal critic of Trump’s policies on Ukraine and has called on Europe to strengthen its defense in response to the US pausing military aid and no longer sharing critical battlefield intelligence with Kyiv.
The French politician also also went off on the Trump administration’s decision to fire government employees as part of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cost-cutting efforts.
“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,” Glucksmann added, “then we’re going to welcome them.’”
