French Mural Shows Statue Of Liberty Covering Her eyes In A Swipe At Trump

As statements go, it's a big one.

A towering mural in France of the Statue of Liberty covering her eyes is racking up millions of views online with its swipe at US President Donald Trump 's immigration and deportation policies.

Amsterdam-based street artist Judith de Leeuw described her giant work in the northern French town of Roubaix, which has a large immigrant community, as "a quiet reminder of what freedom should be."

She said "freedom feels out of reach" for migrants and "those pushed to the margins, silenced, or unseen."

"I painted her covering her eyes because the weight of the world has become too heavy to witness. What was once a shining symbol of liberty now carries the sorrow of lost meaning," de Leeuw wrote in a July 4 post on Facebook, when Americans were celebrating Independence Day.

Her depiction of the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the French people in the late 1800s, has inspired some sharp criticism.

Wow! France gifted her to us, and now they've captured what so many Americans are feeling on Independence Day. The values the Statue of Liberty stood for are no more.

📌 A stunning mural of the Statue of Liberty covering her face was unveiled in Roubaix, France, on July 3, 2025. pic.twitter.com/wYylY7ARJy

— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) July 4, 2025

Rep. Tim Burchett, a Republican lawmaker from Tennessee, wrote in an angry post on X that the work "disgusts me." He said he had an uncle who fought and died in France, where U.S. forces saw combat in both World War I and World War II.

In an interview with The Associated Press, de Leeuw was unapologetic.

"I'm not offended to be hated by the Donald Trump movement. I am not sorry. This is the right thing to do," she said.

The town stood by the work, with its deputy mayor in charge of cultural affairs, Frederic Lefebvre, telling broadcaster France 3 that "it's a very strong and powerful political message."

Since returning to the White House amid anti-immigration sentiment, Trump has launched an unprecedented campaign that has pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him. People from various countries have been deported to remote and unrelated places like South Sudan and the small African nation of Eswatini.

Polling by Gallup released last week showed an increasing number of Americans who said immigration is a "good thing" and decreasing support for the type of mass deportations Trump has championed since before he was elected.

The mural in Roubaix is part of an urban street culture festival backed by the town. Roubaix is one of the poorest towns in France. It was economically devastated by the collapse since the 1970s of its once-flourishing textile industry that used to attract migrant workers from elsewhere in Europe, north Africa and beyond.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)