Congressman Dan Donovan is demanding the Interior Department study ways to increase security at the Statue of Liberty after an anti-Trump immigration protester shut down the landmark on the Fourth of July.
“Ensuring the safety and security of our monuments and infrastructure is critical to protecting our communities and the American people,” said Donovan (R-Staten Island). “There are many avenues to peacefully protest, but those rights don’t extend to illegal actions, breaching security perimeters, and threatening police officers.”
Staten Island resident Therese Patricia Okoumou, an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, scaled the base of the statute to protest President Donald Trump’s controversial “zero tolerance” immigration policy that led to the separation of more than 2,300 children from their parents at the US/Mexico border.
Her protest forced the evacuation of the monument on the busy holiday.
The 44-year-old was part of a larger group of activists who protested at the landmark that day, where they unfurled a banner calling for the reunification of the separated families.
Trump, who backed Donovan in the GOP primary, mocked Okoumou as a “clown” and said he would have let her jump.
Donovan raised concerns in a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.