\u201cThe Statue of Liberty Went Dark Overnight and the Timing Was Just \u2018Too Perfect,\u2019\u201d<\/a>, claiming that \u201cLady Liberty was\u2026 protesting President Trump generally and, more specifically, his travel ban just a day after he signed the revised executive order limiting entry to the United States from six Muslim-majority countries.\u201d<\/p>\nBut these protests are based on a flawed argument. The Statue of Liberty has nothing to do with immigration. In fact, she was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, to commemorate the centennial of American independence and the influence of the founding fathers on French revolutionary ideals.\u00a0 Her full name, Liberty Enlightening the World<\/em> more accurately reflects her true purpose, championing the worldwide diffusion of the republican form of government. She is, metaphorically speaking, a symbol of liberty as an influential emigrant \u2013 an encouragement to those who would seek democracy at home, not those seeking a new homeland.<\/p>\nShe became entwined with immigration in the popular imagination due to her physical proximity to Ellis Island and a poem affixed to her base.\u00a0 That sonnet, called The New Colossus,<\/em> was written by Emma Lazarus, a wealthy socialist poet popular in early 1900\u2019s New York literary circles, and auctioned off as part of the campaign to raise funds for the pedestal on which the statue was erected. Nevertheless, open borders advocates have imbued it with the same significance as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.\u00a0 They are mistaken. The United States has always been welcoming to newcomers. But liberty under the rule of law has always been our core principle \u2013 not immigration.<\/p>\nLazarus\u2019 poem implies that immigration is what made America great. Yet, in reality, it has always been American greatness that attracted immigrants. Auguste Bartholdi understood this. That\u2019s why he built Liberty Enlightening the World <\/em>and gave her to the United States. If Lady Liberty was protesting anything when her lights went out, it was probably the way in which her history has been distorted not President Trump\u2019s efforts to preserve ordered liberty in the face of terror.