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| Brand New Colossus: A Statue of Liberty Revival Amid Immigration Woes | Brand New Colossus: A Statue of Liberty Revival Amid Immigration Woes |
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| King Bradley was working his shift at the gift shop near the Statue of Liberty when something unusual happened. | King Bradley was working his shift at the gift shop near the Statue of Liberty when something unusual happened. |
| Mr. Bradley had transferred in the last six months from Federal Hall, another national landmark in New York, where tears are not a normal part of the visitor experience. But a woman browsing through the gift shop had begun to cry, he said, and tears were rolling down her face. | Mr. Bradley had transferred in the last six months from Federal Hall, another national landmark in New York, where tears are not a normal part of the visitor experience. But a woman browsing through the gift shop had begun to cry, he said, and tears were rolling down her face. |
| “She said that it’s sad that the statue is supposed to mean freedom and liberty and all these things and we don’t actually have that here,” Mr. Bradley said, adding that the woman explained that she worked with Syrian refugees. | “She said that it’s sad that the statue is supposed to mean freedom and liberty and all these things and we don’t actually have that here,” Mr. Bradley said, adding that the woman explained that she worked with Syrian refugees. |
| In another telling sign of how the last presidential election may have shifted the civic landscape, the Statue of Liberty has re-emerged as a potent and resonant symbol amid a polarizing debate about immigration. | In another telling sign of how the last presidential election may have shifted the civic landscape, the Statue of Liberty has re-emerged as a potent and resonant symbol amid a polarizing debate about immigration. |
| Look closely and the statue can be found seemingly everywhere: on signs, at protests and speeches, on T-shirts, magazine and newspaper covers, and in a flood of images and memes shared on social media. So ubiquitous has it become that the statue can be invoked by its familiar elements: the pointed crown, the robe and rich, sea foam green patina, the flaming gold torch and arm raised toward the sky. A cover image from a German magazine, Der Spiegel, depicting President Trump holding the statue’s head, severed and bloodied, was an internet sensation in February. | Look closely and the statue can be found seemingly everywhere: on signs, at protests and speeches, on T-shirts, magazine and newspaper covers, and in a flood of images and memes shared on social media. So ubiquitous has it become that the statue can be invoked by its familiar elements: the pointed crown, the robe and rich, sea foam green patina, the flaming gold torch and arm raised toward the sky. A cover image from a German magazine, Der Spiegel, depicting President Trump holding the statue’s head, severed and bloodied, was an internet sensation in February. |
| And the attention is reverberating at the statue’s home, a small island in New York Harbor, where visitors in January and February have surged this year. In January, an estimated 170,000 visitors boarded the ferry that travels to Liberty Island and nearby Ellis Island, up about 18 percent over the same month last year, and 171,000 did so in February, up about 15 percent over 2016. Both months smashed records that Statue Cruises, the company that tracks visitors through ferry ticket sales, has kept since 1991. | And the attention is reverberating at the statue’s home, a small island in New York Harbor, where visitors in January and February have surged this year. In January, an estimated 170,000 visitors boarded the ferry that travels to Liberty Island and nearby Ellis Island, up about 18 percent over the same month last year, and 171,000 did so in February, up about 15 percent over 2016. Both months smashed records that Statue Cruises, the company that tracks visitors through ferry ticket sales, has kept since 1991. |
| Mr. Bradley, the gift shop worker, said the change became noticeable in the weeks after the election. | Mr. Bradley, the gift shop worker, said the change became noticeable in the weeks after the election. |
| “People are definitely paying more attention,” he said. “They’re asking more questions.” | “People are definitely paying more attention,” he said. “They’re asking more questions.” |
| The numbers can perhaps be explained, in part, by the relatively mild winter New York has had this year, though 2016 was also on the warmer side. Still, on an unusually cold morning recently, hundreds of people milled about the monument, braving a chill that the early spring sun did little to dispel. | The numbers can perhaps be explained, in part, by the relatively mild winter New York has had this year, though 2016 was also on the warmer side. Still, on an unusually cold morning recently, hundreds of people milled about the monument, braving a chill that the early spring sun did little to dispel. |
| In interviews with more than three dozen visitors, many said they had been motivated to visit the Statue by the divisive national debate on immigration. Most had brought their children, hoping to teach them about the family’s immigration history. Others were quick to cite lines from the famous Emma Lazarus poem “The New Colossus”: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free … ” | |
| “It’s like, remember who were are, remember what we did. Remember how this country was built,” said Christian Pollas, 48, a Bronx resident who lived in Haiti before moving to the United States as a child for “political reasons” during the reign of the dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as Baby Doc. “We’re not just American citizens.” | |
| Others drawn to the statue included a family of four of Puerto Rican descent who lives in Orlando, Fla.; a mother from Los Angeles teaching her 5-year-old son about how his family had come from Ireland decades ago; a French traveler curious about the “situation in the U.S.A., with Donald Trump”; a couple in town from the Netherlands interested, they said, in the statue’s message of liberty; and some 170 eighth graders from a yeshiva in Brooklyn. | |
| “Lady Liberty shows that everyone and anyone can come in,” said Jacob Kassin, 13, an eighth grader at the Magen David Yeshivah, who, unprompted, spoke harshly about Mr. Trump’s proposed travel ban before being hushed by a teacher. “The rich, the poor, the immigrants. We’ll treat them equally.” | |
| As a sign, perhaps, of how politically fraught the statue has become, the National Park Service, seemingly reluctant to promote the heritage of a landmark under its stewardship, turned down requests for interviews with rangers as well as a librarian who is an expert on the statue. | |
| Jerry Willis, a Park Service spokesman, said there was indeed a sense that the statue was enjoying a renewed relevance. As examples, he cited a random phone call seeking conversation about the statue’s meaning, a television crew that arrived for a shoot and a group of protesters who rode over after a demonstration against the travel ban in Battery Park City. Mr. Willis’s Google alert for the Statue of Liberty has been getting significantly more hits than it used to, he said. | |
| “We’ve kind of recognized the political framework that it’s in right now, but our tours really focus on the history,” he said. A banner reading “Refugees Welcome” was draped without permission from the statue’s pedestal in February. | “We’ve kind of recognized the political framework that it’s in right now, but our tours really focus on the history,” he said. A banner reading “Refugees Welcome” was draped without permission from the statue’s pedestal in February. |
| The statue, “Liberty Enlightening the World,” was dedicated in 1886, but was not originally intended to be a symbol of immigration. | The statue, “Liberty Enlightening the World,” was dedicated in 1886, but was not originally intended to be a symbol of immigration. |
| With a broken chain at Liberty’s feet, the monument was conceived in France as a celebration of the abolition of slavery and the Union’s victory in the Civil War. But the meaning shifted over time because of the statue’s prominence in New York Harbor at a time when immigrants were arriving at nearby Ellis Island and the addition of the Lazarus poem in 1903. | |
| The statue has often been drafted into political debates, and conservatives and moderates have been known to claim it as a monument to their cause. | The statue has often been drafted into political debates, and conservatives and moderates have been known to claim it as a monument to their cause. |
| But it has found its broadest use today as a totem of the left, emerging as a sort of patron saint of the protest movements that have surged in opposition to Mr. Trump and his policies. | But it has found its broadest use today as a totem of the left, emerging as a sort of patron saint of the protest movements that have surged in opposition to Mr. Trump and his policies. |
| “It’s been used in so many ways, by so many artists. It’s funny and it’s beautiful and it’s outrageous,” said Joyce Kozloff, a founder of “We Make America,” an artists’ collective in New York that made hundreds of green-cloth tunics, cardboard crowns and torches and banners to distribute at the Women’s Marches in New York and Washington in January. “It seems to lend itself to that.” | |
| Still, one recent visitor, Barry Hutton, an engineer from Dorchester, England, scoffed at the idea that the statue was anything more than a great feat of engineering and architecture. | Still, one recent visitor, Barry Hutton, an engineer from Dorchester, England, scoffed at the idea that the statue was anything more than a great feat of engineering and architecture. |
| “That is politicians,” he said. “Instead of taking a bit of history, ‘What a nice statue,’ they will read things into it. People make up stories to get attention.” | “That is politicians,” he said. “Instead of taking a bit of history, ‘What a nice statue,’ they will read things into it. People make up stories to get attention.” |
| As the day began to warm, Ana and Christopher Felpeto, visiting from Miami with their daughters, Luciana, 10, and Valentina, 8, headed back to the ferry. | As the day began to warm, Ana and Christopher Felpeto, visiting from Miami with their daughters, Luciana, 10, and Valentina, 8, headed back to the ferry. |
| Ms. Felpeto said she had come to New York many times but had never visited the statue. Her parents fled Cuba in 1959, she said, and her father gave up his law career to drive a taxi and sell kitchen goods in the United States. Her husband arrived from Cuba in 1967, as a baby. | Ms. Felpeto said she had come to New York many times but had never visited the statue. Her parents fled Cuba in 1959, she said, and her father gave up his law career to drive a taxi and sell kitchen goods in the United States. Her husband arrived from Cuba in 1967, as a baby. |
| Her family’s story and today’s political climate had prompted her to bring her children to the statue, she said. She asked them about the words of “The New Colossus.” | Her family’s story and today’s political climate had prompted her to bring her children to the statue, she said. She asked them about the words of “The New Colossus.” |
| “It means freedom!” one of the girls shouted. | “It means freedom!” one of the girls shouted. |
| “It’s not a coincidence that we came here,” Ms. Felpeto said. “It’s for a very specific reason. These kids have grown up American, so it’s very important for them to pass those messages and values on. Especially in this time we’re in, this is the time to do that.” |