Woman climbs Lady Liberty base after protest of ICE
New York police officers with ropes and ladders scaled a portion of the Statue of Liberty on Wednesday for a dramatic July 4 capture of a female protester who hoisted herself up the robes of the statue to call attention on U.S. treatment of migrant families.
About 100 feet aboveground, the climber engaged in a roughly four-hour standoff with police before two New York Police Department officers climbed up to the base and went over to her. With the dramatic scene unfolding on live television, she and the officers edged carefully around the rim of the statue’s robes toward a ladder, and she climbed down about 25 feet to the monument’s observation point and was taken into custody.
The woman had participated earlier in displaying a banner calling for abolishing the federal government’s chief immigration enforcement agency, said Jay Walker, a member of Rise and Resist, which organized the demonstration.
The group initially tweeted that the climber had “no connection” to the demonstration. But Walker later said that she was involved but that others had no idea she would make the climb, which wasn’t part of the planned protest. He said he didn’t know her name.
The woman climbed the based from the observation point, National Park Service spokesman Jerry Willis said. Visitors were forced to leave Liberty Island hours before its normal 6:15 p.m. closing time, he said.
Earlier in the day, at least six protesters unfurled a banner reading “Abolish I.C.E.” at the statue, referring to to Im- migration and Customs Enforcement, a part of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE officers arrest and deport immigrants who are in the United States illegally, among other duties.
The New York-based activist group behind the banner opposes the Trump administration and advocates ending deportations and family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Federal code of regulations prohibits hanging banners from the monument, Willis told The Associated Press.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said the president’s immigration policy is a step forward for public safety.
Under Trump’s zero-tolerance policy, the government has begun requiring border agents to arrest and prosecute anyone caught entering the country illegally. That resulted in more than 2,000 children being separated from their parents within six weeks this spring.