French MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, of the Socialists and Democrats group, has set tongues wagging by suggesting that the Statue of Liberty, unveiled in New York in 1886 as a gift from the French people should be sent back because the United States has chosen to side with tyrants.

Glucksmann told a party convention: “We’re going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: ‘Give us back the Statue of Liberty.’”

“We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So, it will be just fine here at home,” Glucksmann added.

The French MEPs comments are likely in reference to a decision by Washington to pause aid to Ukraine, which it had been helping to fight off a Russian invasion.

President Donald Trump’s perceived softness on Russia, his long-documented admiration for President Vladimir Putin and other strongman leaders, and his public humiliation of Ukrainian Prime Minister Voldymyr Zelenskyy have caused alarm throughout Europe.

In reference to the famous words on the plaque at the base of the statue of liberty, Glucksmann suggested France could benefit from the wave of firings by the new Trump administration. “The second thing we’re going to say to the Americans is: ‘If you want to fire your best researchers, if you want to fire all the people who, through their freedom and their sense of innovation, their taste for doubt and research, have made your country the world’s leading power, then we’re going to welcome them,” he said.

A plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty famously bears the inscription: “Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The Trump administration wants to conduct mass deportations of people allegedly in the U.S. without documentation and has floated travel restrictions on dozens of countries.