The artwork is displayed on the side of a building in the French town of Roubaix. It shows the iconic New York City statue covering her eyes with her hands.
16:02 ET, 18 Jul 2025Updated 11:48 ET, 19 Jul 2025
Amsterdam-based street artist Judith de Leeuw is behind the mural which shows the Statue of Liberty covering her eyes(Image: Facebook/ Judith de Leeuw )
A massive French mural which depicts the Statue of Liberty with her eyes covered in a swipe at Donald Trump’s immigration policies has drawn the ire of Republicans.
The artwork is displayed on the side of a building in the French town of Roubaix. It shows the iconic New York City statue covering her eyes with her hands.
Amsterdam-based street artist Judith de Leeuw shared a video of the mural on Facebook on July Fourth. She said that it was intentionally displayed in “a city with one of France’s largest migrant populations.” It comes after a Trump family member revealed his body is “rotting inside” in a disturbing update on the president’s declining health.
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The artist 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,” she wrote.
“What was once a shining symbol of liberty now carries the sorrow of lost meaning. The project was finished on July 4th — Independence Day. A quiet reminder of what freedom should be.”
Republican lawmaker Tim Burchett slammed the artwork, saying “it disgusts me.”
“If any country ought to be kissing our ass it’s France. My Uncle Roy fought and died and is buried there for their freedom,” he wrote on X.
The artist responded to criticism of her work, saying she was “not sorry.”
“I’m not offended to be hated by the Donald Trump movement. I am not sorry. This is the right thing to do,” de Leeuw told The Associated Press.
During the campaign trail, Trump pledged to carry out the largest mass deportation in US history.
Since taking office, there has been an increase of arrests by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with reports of raids across the country.
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