What to Know
- The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are closed Saturday due to the government shutdown
- They will remain closed until further notice
- Harbor tours will be offered in the meantime and refunds are available
The huddled masses will have to wait.
The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island closed to visitors on Saturday due to the government shutdown. The National Park Service announced that both New York sites would be closed "due to a lapse in appropriations."
Lady Liberty and Ellis Island will be closed until further notice, the National Parks Service said.
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Closed Due to a Lapse in Appropriations. Effective immediately and until further notice. Visit https://t.co/O5XqQvKTSt for ticket refund & new harbor cruise information
— Statue of Liberty NM (@StatueEllisNPS) January 20, 2018
The federal government shut down at the stroke of midnight Friday after last-minute negotiations crumbled and Senate Democrats blocked a four-week stopgap extension in a late-night vote. Congress scheduled an unusual Saturday session to begin considering a three-week version of the short-term spending measure.
Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo vowed to find the money to reopen the Statue of Liberty as soon as possible, but it remained closed Saturday.
Visitors with tickets were directed to statuecruises.com for refunds. The ferry company honored ticket holders for a cruise in the bay - to at least see Lady Liberty from afar. Many declined.
"To get this close where you can see them, and the government shuts them down - that's very, very frustrating," said Dan O'Meara, a firefighter from Fresno, California, who is descended from an Irish immigrant family that entered through Ellis Island. "But now, we're not allowed to go out there and see it."
O'Meara was in New York working as part of a team helping to train fellow New York firefighters in hazardous materials. Free for the weekend, he remained land-bound, with some bitter comments about the government.
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"You have to blame Trump and the Republicans for allowing the shutdown, and they shouldn't get paid," O'Meara said. "After all, working people who are out of jobs are not getting paid."
Also not earning money was Statue Cruises, which charges $18.50 per ticket to see the statue dedicated in 1886 as a gift from France. On normal days, as many as 3,000 people board the ferries to take a close look, said Rafael Abreu, spokesman for the ferry company whose offices are on Ellis Island. During the shutdown, at least half of the daily $55,000 or so in revenue would be lost.
On Saturday at the Manhattan ferry dock, Abreu said, "there was confusion and surprise - that the government had shut down, especially among the international visitors. They were shocked by this concept."
Saturday was also the last chance to see Liberty and Ellis islands for Mike Van Kirk, an accountant from Phoenix, who had to leave Saturday after a three-day visit with his wife. They were told Friday that tickets to see the statue were available, only to arrive in lower Manhattan the next morning and learn none was being sold.
"We're definitely disappointed," he said "I guess we'll just walk around now and go see anything's that's not government."
Cuomo called the statue "a symbol of America" whose closure reflects a government trying "to kick our immigrants."
"I'm volunteering that the state will pay to keep the Statue of Liberty open because it is the symbol of our nation," said Cuomo, adding that a precise plan is in the works.
