UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural arm that has the statue on its list of World Heritage treasures, notes that the iconic monument is U.S. government property.

A political leader from France has stirred up an international debate by calling for the return of the Statue of Liberty. The statement, made during a public convention, argues that the United States no longer represents the values that led France to gift the statue in the first place.

A French Parliament member is demanding that the U.S. return the Statue of Liberty to France, who gifted the statue to America in the 1880s.