A Democratic member of the House of Representatives suggested this week that the United States demolish the Statue of Liberty during a debate on immigration issues. While this effort would have almost no realistic chance of succeeding, it followed the removal or destruction of a number of other statues depicting American history.
Rep, Maxwell Frost (D-FL) made the suggestion during a hearing by the House Oversight Committee regarding immigration. Frost expressed opposition to congressional Republicans’ proposed Secure the Border Act.
During the discussion, he presented a large image of the statue. He said that Republicans were pushing a “bigoted” bill.
He said that if Republicans will “reject” immigrants, then the Statue of Liberty should be removed as well, He called the statue “our largest symbol that tells people to come here.”
The young Democrat said that such a proposal would reflect Republicans’ true intentions, and accused them of “removing the fabric of America.”
He then asked which Republican in Congress who supports the proposed immigration bill would introduce a bill removing the statue. He argued that any member who didn’t support removing the statue while also supporting the revised bill was a “liar.”
Are you FOR or AGAINST removing the Statue of Liberty? pic.twitter.com/p1GvFJaY14
— Dr. Jebra Faushay (@JebraFaushay) January 20, 2024
The have been a number of monuments and statues destroyed or otherwise removed after pressure from left-wing activists since 2020. This includes the recent destruction of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Virginia, which was melted down.
A statue of former President Theodore Roosevelt was removed from outside the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 2022. Several other monuments were removed after pressure from the Black Lives Matter protests across the country.
In addition to the taking down of statues, a number of memorials and monuments have been vandalized in recent years. This includes a statue of Abraham Lincoln in New York City and sites in Washington D.C.
More recently, a Los Angeles veterans cemetery and the New York Public Library were both defaced by pro-Palestinian protesters.
