As statements go, it's a big one. A towering mural in France of the Statue of Liberty covering her eyes is racking up millions of views online with its swipe at U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration and deportation policies.

ROUBAIX, France — As statements go, it's a big one.

A towering mural in France of the Statue of Liberty covering her eyes racked up millions of views online with its swipe at U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration and deportation policies.

Amsterdam-based street artist Judith de Leeuw described her giant work in the northern French town of Roubaix, which has a large immigrant community, as "a quiet reminder of what freedom should be."

A mural by Dutch artist Judith de Leeuw shows the Statue of Liberty covering her eyes with her hands July 14 in Roubaix, France.

She said "freedom feels out of reach" for migrants and "those pushed to the margins, silenced, or unseen."

“I painted her covering her eyes because the weight of the world has become too heavy to witness. What was once a shining symbol of liberty now carries the sorrow of lost meaning,” de Leeuw wrote in a Facebook post July 4, when Americans were celebrating Independence Day.

Her depiction of the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the French people in the late 1800s, inspired some sharp criticism.

Rep. Tim Burchett, a Republican lawmaker from Tennessee, wrote in an angry post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that the work “disgusts me.” He said he had an uncle who fought and died in France, where U.S. forces saw combat in both World War I and World War II.

Dutch Artist Judith de Leeuw poses July 11 in her apartment in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

In an interview with The Associated Press, de Leeuw was unapologetic.

"I'm not offended to be hated by the Donald Trump movement. I am not sorry," she said. "This is the right thing to do."

The town stood by the work, with its deputy mayor in charge of cultural affairs, Frédéric Lefebvre, telling broadcaster France 3 that "it's a very strong and powerful political message."

Since returning to the White House amid anti-immigration sentiment, Trump launched an unprecedented campaign that pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him. People from various countries were deported to remote and unrelated places like South Sudan and the small African nation of Eswatini.

Recent polling by Gallup showed an increasing number of Americans who said immigration is a "good thing" and decreasing support for the type of mass deportations Trump championed since before he was elected.

The mural in Roubaix is part of an urban street culture festival backed by the town. Roubaix is one of the poorest towns in France. It was economically devastated by the collapse since the 1970s of its once-flourishing textile industry that used to attract migrant workers from elsewhere in Europe, north Africa and beyond.

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