President Donald Trump’s administration has spent almost a year scrutinizing, and then dismantling, and then trying to rewrite history at one of Independence Mall’s most informative exhibits on slavery.
Transportation SecretarySean Duffy, who has been one of the Trump administration’s biggest cheerleaders for this week’s 250th anniversary celebrations, produced a video asking Mayor Cherelle L. Parker which Philadelphia historical sites visitors should see.
Parker listed the highlights — the National Constitution Center, Independence Mall, the Liberty Bell, and ended her list of recommendations with the President’s House, which memorializes the nine people enslaved by George Washington in Philadelphia.
“Reconnect with our history, recommit to the democratic values that we stand on, and have an amazing time,” Parker said.
Cue Duffy showcasing pictures of the very panels at the President’s House that his boss wants to take down.
There are few places that are better to celebrate America’s 250th birthday and to go on a road trip than the BEDROCK of DEMOCRACY: Philadelphia
Thank you to @PhillyMayor Cherelle Parker for showing us her can’t miss stops for road trippers in the City of Brotherly Love!
The video, which was posted Wednesday to Duffy’s social media, appears to have been filmed in May, when Duffy visited Philadelphia while the city and the Trump administration were in the midst of alegal battle over the President’s House after the federal government removed the site’s exhibits earlier this year.
After the Third Circuit’s ruling, Parker said in a statement that: “I will pursue every legal action possible to reverse this decision. We cannot and WILL not rest until the full story of American history — including the existence of slavery at the President’s House here in Philadelphia — is told, for our Nation and the World to see.”
On Thursday, a Boston-based federal appeals court removed the final legal obstacle that prevented the Trump administration from installing its own exhibits at the President’s House.
This was not Duffy’s only visit to Philadelphia that coincided with a key event in the President’s House saga. Duffy joined Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in a visit to Independence National Historical Park in September 2025, just days after reports that the Interior Department planned to make changes to the President’s House.
The secretaries were preparing for the Semiquincentennial celebrations. The Transportation Department, led by Duffy, has promoted road trips to a number of sites targeted by the Interior for changes, including Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in Virginia, in addition to the sites in Philadelphia.
Duffy, a former MTV reality television star, hasfaced backlash for shooting a reality TV-style travel series with his family over the span of several months called The Great American Road Trip, meant to encourage celebrating the United States ahead of the 250th.
A trailer for the series shows that he stopped in Philadelphia and visited LOVE Parkand the Liberty Bell.
In Wednesday’s video, which does not appear to be related to the series, Duffy says, “There’s no better place to go than where it all began in Philadelphia.”
“This city is truly amazing, and the history that exists here,” Duffy said, “No one has it.”
Delaware County is investigating a hack of its network after “unauthorized activity” interfered with systems in late June, disrupting county services.
The countygovernment is “in the process of restoring network access,” according to a statement, and internet and phone service has been restored.
“The County responded to these attempts by taking the proactive but necessary step of shutting down our network to continue to protect sensitive information and critical systems while following industry best practices in response to the intrusion attempts,” the county said.
The scale of the latest hack remains unclear, but the county said in its statement that since the 2020 incident, it has “established critical protections and followed industry recommendations about how to best secure its network assets, and those protections have proven valuable in recent days.”
The public first became aware of disruptions last Friday, when Delaware County Council posted on social media that there was a “network outage” at the Government Center Complex in Media.
Delco also said it plans to reestablish network access, services, and work with cybersecurity experts.
“All our offices remain open and ready to continue serving our residents, and we appreciate the efforts of our staff and departments to find alternate ways to perform their duties throughout this period of network interruption,” the county said.
The delays and detours in services have become frustrating for residents who may have to reschedule appointments with departments like the Register of Wills or at the courthouse.
6ABC reported earlier this week that residents were not able to complete routine procedures at the courthouse, like filing a motion, and that cases were being taken out of order.
On a sweltering and humid summer afternoon — as tourists and historical reenactors milled about Old City ahead of 250th anniversary celebrations — Cristian Marín guided his family through the President’s House.
Loyal soccer fans, Marín’s family had traveled from Colombia to visit their son in Philadelphia, attend the World Cup matches, and see the Revolutionary Erasites.
But it was up to Marín, 37, to play tour guide last Friday and explain to his family why large gaps of brick wall were covered by paper adorned with handwritten messages expressing their indignation with President Donald Trump after his administrationremovedexhibits about slavery at George Washington’s former home in Independence National Historical Park.
Marín’s family started laughing from pure disbelief about the “craziness of the situation,”he said.
Marín’s relatives are among an influx of tourists visiting Philadelphia in the lead up to the city’s Semiquincentennial festivities only to find themselves confronted with evidence of the largely partisan battle playing out over how to tell the complicated story of America’s founding.
“For me, it’s shocking to see a country trying to erase that history,” said Marín, a freelancejournalist. “I think it’s important to remember our past in order to just not repeat those kinds of things.”
Cristian Marín, 37, tours the President’s House in Independence National Historical Park last week.
Ahead of the 250th, both Philadelphians who have been engaged in the fight to protect historical exhibits and tourists who have wandered through the President’s House for the first time, have lamented the Trump administration’s changes to the exhibit, which was largely dismantled by the administration earlier this year.
They told The Inquirer that the missing panels, such as those that discuss the brutality of slavery, do a significant disservice to understanding the full picture — even the ugly parts — of U.S. history.
“History is going to be out there, and the more we share history, the better for everybody,” said Hector Vargas, 40, from New York. “For the new generation, and even ourselves, because this is something from the past and we need to understand better — what happened and how this great country basically became the great country it is.”
The Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates that from 250th-related events alone the city will welcome over 1.5 million overnight visitors in 2026.
But the turmoil facing the President’s House is hanging over the celebrations, as the site’s stakeholders and the Trump administration battle over which version of history residents and visitors will see as they celebrate on Independence Mall.
Judges presiding over lawsuits related to the President’s House or other threats by the Trump administration to change historical content at national parks have viewed the Fourth of July as a deadline to set the record straight as to whether the federal government has the authority to rewrite history.
Some advocates believe the Trump administration saw it that way, too.
Visitors read unofficial signage put up to protest the Trump administration’s changes to the President’s House site, which memorializes the nine people enslaved by George Washington in Philadelphia.
The Inquirer reported that the federal government also quietly removed mentions of slavery from Independence Hall and a panel under Thomas Jefferson’s portrait at the Second Bank — sending a new wave of outrage among historians and advocates ahead of this weekend.
“In the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Declaration of Independence, there’s probably increased impetus and motivation to get these changes installed before the dawn of the Fourth,” said Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia.
‘They want to make us believe that slavery did not happen’
Perched on folding chairs bordered by patriotic banners that flapped in the wind, dozens of Philadelphians spent their Friday night at the People’s Plaza, a concrete gathering space just steps away from the President’s House eight days before the 250th anniversary.
A truck displaying a digital screen with the name of the event, “Trump Fascism: Historical Erasure and the Battle Over the Truth,” parked across the street.
With Independence Hall towering behind them, state Rep. Chris Rabb, attorney and advocate Michael Coard, civil rights organizer Masaru Edmund Nakawatase, and visual artist Dread Scott railed against the federal government’s changes to history at an event hosted by Refuse Fascism, an anti-Trump organization.
The gathering is one of many events opponents to the Trump administration’s actions are holding in the days surrounding the 250th. Coard’s group, Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, is hosting its annual Black Independence Day on July Fourth at the President’s House.
“We have so much power and it scares these people. If it didn’t scare them, why would they be worried about this exhibit right here?” Rabb (D., Philadelphia) declared, pointing at the President’s House.
Rabb, who will represent parts of Philadelphia in Congress after winning the Democratic primary for the Third District in May, has often spoken of how he is a descendant of both a signer of the Declaration of Independence who enslaved people and of Black abolitionists.
The Trump administration had spent a year eyeing the President’s House and other exhibits before they abruptly dismantled the site in January, just weeks into the nation’s 250th year. Last year, the president had issued an executive order directing parks to conduct a content review of materials that could “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
Subsequent legal battles have allowed some — but not all — of original panels to be reinstalled, though the administration can now install its own spin on history at the President’s House, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has ruled.
But the struggle to confront the full scope of U.S. history is baffling to some visitors, like Camila Ordenana, 24, from Ecuador. Ordenana, who ventured from Guayaquil to Philadelphia to attend a World Cup game, said she hasnever seen this kind of censorship in her other travels.
“It is weird, because we have been to several places, several historical cities, like, I can remember going to the U.K. or going to Germany, and you can learn about the experience in a very neutral and respectful way,” Ordenana said.
Katrie White, 53, from Illinois, traveled to Philadelphia specifically for sightseeing to learn more about African American history. She said she was disturbed by the removal of the signs.
“They want to make us believe that slavery did not happen,” White said. “And that’s how it affected African Americans, that it wasn’t a big deal, that it made us better. But of course, we all know that it didn’t, and it really did affect us. It was a trauma that is still carried on to this day.”
Many Philadelphians appear to agree.
A recent Suffolk University / Inquirer poll found that a quarter of city residents see preserving historic sites as Philadelphia’s top responsibility to the nation ahead of the 250th.
Richard Porter (left), 52, of Michigan, at the President’s House last week.
Gathered by the Market Street entrance of the President’s House last Friday, looking at the colorful illustration panels that remained, Richard Porter grappled with the impact of the removals, saying that without the educational information, “We’ll repeat it over and over again.”
The Michigan resident said that the country is at a point where it needs to move forward but that the changes to the President’s House are sowing further divisions.
“This is an everyday battle. It’s not just today or for the 250; this is all the time,” Porter said.
Bucks Countygovernment’s first-ever paid parental leave policy is now on the books.
The county commissioners unanimously approved a human resources policy during their public meeting Wednesday that allows full-time county employees with at least one year of service to take up to eight weeks of parental leave.
The eight weeks must be taken consecutively within 12 months of the birth of a child, the adoption of a child, or a child’s foster care placement with the employee, according to a policy document.
The new guidelines signify a win for county employees and the local unions that represent them after they’ve spent years vying for a policy shift on parental leave in local government. The change could also aid in attracting more people to work for the county, which is Bucks’ third largest employer.
“Eight weeks is better than zero,” said Steve Catanese, president of SEIU Local 668, which represents about 500 county government employees in Bucks.
“We’re glad for whatever reason that the county is ready to move for it,” Catanese added. “We would hope our advocacy was part of it, but we’re glad that they’ve actually made movement on this ground.”
Parents who work for local governments have had to navigate inconsistencies on paid leave throughout the Philadelphia suburbs. For instance, Montgomery County expanded from six to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in2024. Delaware County has sixweeks of parental leave.
Chester County didn’t immediately comment on its parental leave policy.
In Pennsylvania, state employees are offered eight weeks of parental leave, which Bucks modeled its policy on.
County Commissioner Bob Harvie said during the meeting Wednesday that the policy was “certainly overdue.”
“When you’re an employer, anything you can do to benefit your employees, especially at a time like now, when things are so expensive, and the cost of living is where it is, and things are difficult enough, this is something I’m proud that we’ve done,” said Harvie,a Democrat who is running for Congress, in an interview.
Harvie said Bucks’ delay in implementing the policy came down to taking the time to develop provisions that did not interfere with any laws or collective bargaining agreements.
Harvie said he’s hopeful that, at some point, Bucks could also increase its policy to 12 weeks.
“Bucks has never done anything like this before, and so it’s something we don’t know the impact,” Harvie said. “We think we know how it’s going to work in terms of staffing and how our offices are going to work with this, but we have to make sure first. We still have to deliver services to the people of the county.”
Parental leave has become a key issue across the state, with lawmakers in Harrisburgrecently mulling paid leave legislation for anyone employed in the state of Pennsylvania.
On the federal level, government employees are eligible for paid parental leave, but a bill — reintroduced last month by U.S. Reps. Don Breyer (D., Va.), Chrissy Houlahan (D., Chester), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Bucks) — would expand that leave to 12 weeks for family and medical reasons.
Harvie and Fitzpatrick will face off in the November election to represent the 1st Congressional District, which covers all of Bucks County and a sliver of Montgomery County.
Other provisions inBucks County’s policy include providing 30-days notice (or as soon as possible due to unforeseen circumstances) to the employer and employees being compensated at their base pay rate. And if both parents are employed by Bucks County, they are each entitled to their own eight weeks of leave.
Harvie said the impact of paid parental leave in Bucks became apparent to him as soon as the new policy was passed Wednesday.
An employee at Parks and Rec, the department head said, was having her baby today.
“They have the chance to sort of take these eight weeks and just focus on being a parent,” Harvie said.
President Donald Trump’s administration has wiped almost all mentions of slavery from a panel accompanying a portrait of Thomas Jefferson at the Second Bank of the United States.
As the Founding Father who wrote the words “all men are created equal” while enslaving more than 600 people throughout his life, Jefferson embodies the paradox at the heart of the revolutionary era.
The description under his iconic portrait attempted to grapple with that tension.
Despite Jefferson’s lifelong pursuit of knowledge, he “never solved the problem of slavery“ and was ”unable to determine how to let go of the notorious system,” the original plaque read.
But a new panel simply states that Jefferson’s “vision of an informed, self-governing citizenry was central to his belief that education and liberty were the foundations of an ideal government,” among other changes.
It’s not the only change the administration has made to exhibits around Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park ahead of the 250th anniversary.
A touchscreen with a virtual tour of Independence Hall’s second floor now tells visitors that one of the rooms was used to hold “individuals accused of crimes of the period” before their court hearings.
Who were these individuals? A previous version stated clearly: “accused fugitives from slavery.”
A side by side of the original and new descriptions Thomas Jefferson’s portrait at the Second Bank of the United States. The references to slavery have largely been removed by President Donald Trump’s administration.
While the changes are more subtle than those that took place at the President’s House in January — and the new exhibits the government proposed a few months later — they further underscore the Trump administration’s goal to sanitize U.S. history, as signified by his executive order to review or remove content at national parks that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
They also show a lack of transparency. The change to the description under Jefferson’s portrait was only acknowledged following a demand by a federal judge in Boston that the National Park Service share a list of all removals the administration undertook to comply with Trump’s “restoring truth and sanity” edict ahead of the country’s 250thcelebration.
In a statement Monday, Avenging the Ancestors Coalition — which has helped lead the efforts to protect the President’s House — said the additional changes were “extremely troubling.”
“The preservation of history requires ongoing vigilance,” the organization said. “Restoring historical interpretation is only one part of the work; protecting it from future revision or erasure is equally important.”
“One of the greatest disappointments of my life, is that we get to the 250th anniversary of this country, and we are still trying to evade the truth of our founding,” LaRoche said.
Among the most blatant examples of the federal government’s desire to retell history has happened at the President’s House, which opened almost two decades ago to memorialize the nine people George Washington enslaved at his Philadelphia home. It also serves as a symbol of exploring the stark juxtaposition of slavery and liberty during the nation’s founding.
But the moves at the Second Bank and Independence Hall signify that the administration is not letting any stone go unturned when it comes to ridding or softening even smaller mentions of slavery at Philadelphia’s most iconic historic sites.
The Department of Interior did not answer repeated questions about the changes.
“No changes have been made,” a spokesperson said via email, citing the President’s House litigation. When an Inquirer reporter pressed again about changes to Independence Hall and the Second Bank, the government spokesperson repeated that there were no changes to the President’s House during the litigation. The Department of Interior did not respond to further inquiries.
At the Second Bank, the panel under Jefferson’s iconicportrait also informed visitors about the population of persons enslaved in 1776, that John Dickinson — a member of the Continental Congress — was an enslaver, and about the life of Moses Williams, an artist who was enslaved at birth and later became a free man.
That’s drastically changed in the new panel.
Jefferson’s grappling with slavery is no longer present and Dickinson is referred to as a “fellow patriot and influential writer. …” The only mention of slavery remaining is Williams’ story, though it’s reworded.
And at Independence Hall, the touchscreen kiosk describing the second floor Committee of Assembly Chamber previously outlined the irony of the space being used for ratifying the U.S. constitution and later housing the office “where accused fugitives from slavery were held before their hearings, right above the room where the Declaration of Independence had been signed.”
A touch screen at the entrance to Independence Hall with photos and descriptions of the building’s second floor. The description of the Committee of the Assembly Chamber has been edited to replace the words “accused fugitives from slavery” to “individuals accused of crimes of the period.”
But the reference to slavery has been removed, among other rewordings.
It remains unclear when these changes were made. The Inquirer reported last summer that these items — and an interactive exhibit at the Benjamin Franklin Museum about the Founding Father’s conflicting views on slavery, which is still intact — were flagged for review.
In addition to the President’s House exhibits, the list says the administration removed a “portrait description” and cites “disparages Americans past or living” as the reason it is gone.
No entry in the list corresponds to the change made at Independence Hall, which Philadelphia owns.
The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
All material changes at Independence Hall should be done after consultation with the city, said Cynthia MacLeod, former superintendent of Independence National Historical Park.
“The National Park service has been known for excellent historians and interpreters and its a shame that they are being muzzled now,” MacLeod said. “It’s a shame and a disservice to all the visitors not to have a more complete history told.”
From George Washington crossing the Delaware and the Continental Army lodging at Valley Forge to the so-called real Penn’s Landing and the Battle of Brandywine, the Philadelphia suburbs played a crucial role in the early development of the United States.
And though Philadelphia — the birthplace of American democracy — has taken center stage for this year’s Semiquincenntenial celebrations, Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester Counties have spent years preparing for 2026 and have curated an extensive list of activities for residents and visitors alike who are looking to honor the United States’ 250th birthday outside the city.
Here is what the Philly suburbs have in store for the 250th:
Reenactors fire off a Galloper gun during a reenactment of George Washington’s river crossing, Washington Crossing Historic Park, Washington Crossing, Pa., Thursday, December 25, 2025.
Bucks County’s history-packed celebrations
For Bucks County — established by William Penn in 1682 — 2026 is set to be chock-full of celebratory events tied to the founding of the U.S.
Bucks’ commissionin charge of planning 250th celebrations has partnered with numerous nonprofits to promote their events on a shared calendar on a dedicated county America 250 website.
Forthcoming activities include art exhibitions, a Doylestown bash featuring big-band music and the reading of the Declaration of Independence, tours of a Revolution-era exhibit at the Mercer Museum, and fireworks at Washington Crossing Historic Park on July Fourth. Not to mention the annual reenactment of Washington crossing the Delaware River on Christmas Day.
The group also worked with the Bucks County Planning Commission and the Bucks County Herald to release a Revolutionary War trail map that takes participants throughout the county to visit historical sites.
Bucks gave $7,500 to the 250th commission in July 2024 in support of the celebrations, a county spokesperson said. Other financial support has come from sponsors, including several companies that have dished out at least $10,000 apiece.
Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, who chairs the county’s 250th commission, said these events underscore the pride that communities have in their rich history.
“It’s also a chance for us to think back, I think, and remind ourselves about the foundation of this country, and the values that united us, because especially now we’re seeing a lot of attempts, unfortunately, within our country to divide us,” said Harvie, a Democrat who is running for U.S. Congress.
It is difficult to predict how this year’s 250th celebrations will affect the county’s tourism numbers, but Bucks typically hosts about 8 million visitors a year, Harvie said.
“We’ve been pitching ourselves sort of — no pun intended — for people who are coming here for the World Cup,” Harvie said. “We’re right between Philadelphia and New York, where you happen to have a place that’s sort of a central hub.”
The Valley Creek Trail at Valley Forge National Historical Park in Valley Forge, Pa., on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024.
A ‘birthday bash’ and celebrating Valley Forge
Montgomery County’s 250th commission has curated months of events to commemorate the Semiquincentennial, but a free “birthday bash” on Monday at the county courthouse will kick off the height of the July Fourth celebrations.
Attendees can graze food trucks, take pictures, and meet an animal from the Elmwood Park Zoo.
Other programs this year include fireworks and live readings of the Declaration of Independence over July Fourth weekend, exhibits to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Valley Forge becoming a national park, and a gathering (with food and drink, of course) at a Skippack farmstead to honor Washington and his troops’ encampment in the town in 1777.
The 250th events have been planned by the county and local municipalities, said Jamila Winder, chair of the county commissioners, as an “opportunity to create meaningful, inclusive celebrations” and cultivate “civic pride.”
Montgomery County typically gets about 8 million visitors a year and are projecting an additional 1 million to the region for the 250th, said Winder, a Democrat.
To help fund this year’s festivities, the county started a grant program through which municipalities can apply to receive up to $500 to support their 250th events between now and Dec. 1.
The county has allotted a $35,000 budget for 250th celebrations, including the grant program, which 22 of 62 municipalities are a part of, a spokesperson said.
“It’s an opportunity for visitors to see how Montgomery County played a unique role in America’s founding, including our deep ties to Valley Forge in the Revolutionary area,” Winder said. “You know, people always think about Philadelphia, right? Philadelphia is a big piece of this story, but Montgomery County plays a huge role in that.”
The Delaware County Courthouse in Media is reflected in a solar panel atop one of the borough’s on-street parking kiosks along Front Street.
Delco is ‘pretty lit’ about its 250th celebrations
“If you thought Delaware County residents were proud of being Delco before America 250 — you’re just, like, next-leveling it now.”
That’s what Delaware County Council member Elaine Paul Schaefer said about Delco’s excitement leading up to the 250th, making sure to set the record straight that William Penn’s storied first steps in the New World hundreds of years ago were actually in Chester, not at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia.
The county — through its America250PADelco commission — is promoting over 100 county, town, or nonprofit events through November, from art exhibits, concerts, and fireworks to “dining under the stars” in Media, a late-summer drone show, and a reading of the Declaration of Independence on the county courthouse steps.
“Delco is pretty lit about this,” said Schaefer, a Democrat.
The county’s 250th commission has disbursed more than $650,000 in grants for various initiatives. That grant money comes from a mix of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act and from different county agencies.
Schaefer said she hopes the events encourage residents to harness a connection to their communities, particularly through the county’s 250th volunteer program.
“You can do something small, do something big. … It’s a really great way to get people involved and connected, and I think that kind of volunteerism and increasing connection to the community will carry on after this big celebration,” Schaefer said.
About 800 Battle of Brandywine reenactors in Chester County.
For Chester County, the party will last through next year
And the events planned for this year (and next year, as it honors various Revolutionary War-era battles, including the Battle of Brandywine) are key to celebrating the county’s role in the founding of the United States.
Residents and visitors have a wide array of activities to choose from outlined on the commission’s website, including driving tours of historical sites and Declaration of Independence readings. On the evening of July Fourth, the Chester County Concert Band will be playing patriotic music as a precursor to the fireworks show.
As opposed to hosting tons of large-scale events, Chesco is more focused on local events that can foster community building, said David Blackburn, heritage preservation coordinator at the Chester County Planning Commission. The commission is working with the county’s 250th commission to carry out plans.
“We’re really oriented to supporting the communities of the county to share their stories,” Blackburn said.
The county has invested over $170,000 in educational materials and programming related to the 250th, in addition to a more than $330,000 grant from the state, a spokesperson said.
But once the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, the celebrations won’t end for Chester County, said Matthew J. Edmond, executive director of the planning commission.
In 1777, many significant Revolutionary War battles took place in the collar counties, and Chester is planning to pour a lot of resources into commemorating those historical events next year.
“We are actively talking with our commission board about ways to celebrate, ways to fundraise for it, and ways that we can make maybe 2027 to be even better than celebrations in 2026,” Edmond said.
But that may not jibe with what many Philadelphians want to see.
A new Suffolk University/Philadelphia Inquirer CityView poll of 500 city residents found that a quarter of respondents believe the city’s primary responsibility to the nation is to protect its historical sites for future generations. Nearly 27% said the city’s primary responsibility to the nation is to serve as a model for “diverse, multicultural urban progress.”
The poll, conducted from June 16 to 20 and released this week, comes after a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in favor of the Trump administration and just weeks ahead of celebrations in Philadelphia for the nation’s 250th birthday.
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The appeals court’s ruling last week was a turning point in a legal battle waged by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration that questioned the federal government’s authority to interfere in what information is presented at the President’s House. Both the Third Circuit ruling and a recent decision by a Boston-based federal appeals court regarding National Park Service exhibits nationwide have started to pave the way for the Trump administration to make unprecedented changes to displays of U.S. history in the region.
Alacia Maxton, 36, a respondent to the poll, said frustration with the attacks on the President’s House has been at the forefront of her mind as the city prepares to celebrate the Semiquincentennial.
For nearly two decades without opposition, the site — which opened in December 2010 — has memorialized the nine people George Washington enslaved at his Philadelphia residence during the founding of America and detailed the brutality of slavery.
Last month, it was designated as an endangered historic site by a major national historic preservation organization. The new panels proposed by the Trump administration to replace the removed exhibits at the President’s House soften Washington’s role as an enslaver, according to those working to protect the site.
“I don’t like the idea that certain groups of people want to whitewash history and erase what doesn’t make them feel comfortable,” said Maxton, who lives in Overbrook Park.
Carolyn Keys, 61, another resident who responded to the poll, said the absence of the some of theoriginal panels is like “missing pieces to a puzzle.”
“Every piece was specifically put together for a purpose,” said Keys, 61, a veteran who lives in the Tacony neighborhood.
David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, said Philadelphians valuing preserving history and being a model for progress is a particularly localized issue.
“Which I think makes this really important information for the nation to see,” Paleologos said.
Philadelphia Lawyer Michael Coard speaks at a rally at the President’s House Site in response to the removal of the President’s House exhibit in Old City, in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, in Philadelphia
A bipartisan grassroots group of Philadelphians — called the President’s House/Slavery Memorial Coalition — has been spearheading efforts to protect the historical site, which has been under scrutiny from the Trump administration since last summer.
Michael Coard, an attorney and founder of one of the leading groups in the efforts to protect the President’s House, said in a statement Wednesday that the poll results show that “Philadelphians understand the importance of protecting our shared history.”
“Black history is American history, and we have both an obligation and, based on these results, a clear mandate to ensure that the stories of enslaved Africans and their descendants are preserved, honored, and accurately told,” Coard said.
Other respondents had different ideas for Philadelphia’s primary responsibility as the birthplace of democracy: Roughly 23% said “leading national conversations on civil rights and economic justice” was a top priority, while almost 17% said the city’s duty to the nation is “proving that a large, complex city can govern itself equitably.”
These insights come as Philadelphia is bracing for an influx of tourists, with particular emphasis on its history as the nation’s birthplace, ahead of the Semiquincentennial celebrations.
The Liberty Bell in Independence National Historical Park Feb. 2, 2026.
Almost 28% of the Philadelphia residents polled see the Liberty Bell — in comparison to Independence Hall, the National Constitution Center, and the Rocky Steps — as the city landmark that best embodies American democracy.
But hanging over the impending 250th celebrations is the uncertain fate of the President’s House, said Leeanna Lundy, 34, of West Philly.
“For them to remove where the most impactful part of where history took place, it’s like mind-boggling,” Lundy said.
Staff writer Michelle Baruchman contributed to this article.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), who represents Bucks County, and Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich got married Saturday in New York City.
The wedding was attended by high-profile figures in politics and media and featured a nighttime cruise around the Statue of Liberty.
The celebrations for the newlyweds and their 302 guests included a ceremony at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and a reception on a yacht called Horizon’s Edge,witha 10-piece brass band and the toasts of former GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former Sen. Joe Manchin (I., W. Va.), People magazine reported.
The nuptials of Fitzpatrick, 52, and Heinrich, 37, comes almost a year after their engagement and amid the Republican’s high-stakes reelection campaign to represent Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District against Democratic challenger Bob Harvie.
Fitzpatrick and Heinrich said they chose New York for their wedding because of its significance in jumpstarting their respective careers as an FBI agent and a network news reporter and its connection to their families’ immigration journey, People reported. It was also a central meeting point for the couple’s families from New England and Pennsylvania.
The reception featured other nods to family — Heinrich’s parents got married on a chartered cruise and the couple’s cake-cutting song was an “Irish tune,” People reported, written by Fitzpatrick’s great-uncle, an NYPD officer who was killed in the line of duty, according to People.
Former Sen. Joe Manchin (I, W.Va) and former GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (right) give a toast to U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich’s nuptials.
Fitzpatrick and Heinrich met in Washington when Heinrich was a correspondent on Capitol Hill. After she switched beats to cover the White House, Fitzpatrick asked her on a date to the Kennedy Center Honors.
They are one of the most high-profile couples on Capitol Hill, sometimes earning the ire of Trump.
Last month, after Fitzpatrick won his GOP primary unopposed, Trump threatened Fitzpatrick, without saying his name, when asked a question by Heinrich, who is vice president of the White House Correspondents Association.
“Her husband votes against me all the time. Can you imagine? I don’t know what’s with him,” Trump said. “You better ask what’s with him. She’s married to a certain congressman. He likes voting against Trump, You know what happens with that? It doesn’t work out well.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning to offload its two warehouse properties in Pennsylvania and another in New Jersey — bought for a total of more than $336 million — that had been purchased to further support President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
In total, ICE is planning to disown seven warehouses across the country by either handing the properties off to other federal agencies or selling them, the New York Times reported.
The agency will continue to pursue spaces in Texas, Arizona, and Maryland.
The move signifies a notable shift in priorities within the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Markwayne Mullin — tapped to lead the department after the abrupt firing of former Secretary Kristi Noem, whose costly warehouse purchases were a pillar of her highly controversial tenure carrying out Trump’s escalating immigration enforcement agenda.
In contrast, Mullin, the Times reported, wants DHS to keep a lower profile.
It remains unclear why DHS is aiming to get rid of some sites while planning to keep others. A spokesperson for the department touted the Trump administration’s immigration agenda and said that “DHS is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners.”
ICE’s new course would be a win for officials in Pennsylvania and New Jersey who have railed against the agency’s plans to use the warehouses as sites for the mass detention of immigrants, citing harmful community impact.
A source close to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration confirmed to The Inquirer on Friday that they had heard discussions about ICE’s plans to offload the Pennsylvania sites.
Shapiro penned a letter to Noem earlier this year saying he would “aggressively pursue every option” to prevent the ICE warehouses that were slated for Berks and Schuylkill Counties.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks with members of the media on May 19 outside his polling place in Rydal.
In the February letter, he questioned the legality of the facilities, highlighted possible harmful environmental impacts, and slammed the department’s immigration enforcement tactics. Cabinet secretaries and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection also issued five administrative orders in March that would have prevented the warehouses from using local water and sewage systems unless DHS complied with state and federal regulations.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D, Pa.), who backed Mullin’s nomination, voiced his opposition to the warehouse centers in an April letter to the secretary.
Public records indicate that in February, the Department of Homeland Security purchased a property in Hamburg, Berks County, for $87.4 million and a property in Tremont, Schuylkill County, for $119.5 million.
In New Jersey, the agency purchased a property in Roxbury Township, Morris County, for $129.3 million, records show.
ICE has been hit with several lawsuits across the country, including in New Jersey, questioning the environmental and community impacts of the warehouses.
New JerseyGov. Mikie Sherrill and Attorney General Jennifer Davenport filed a joint lawsuit with Roxbury Township against ICE and DHS in March.
On Thursday, Sherrill and Davenport said in a statement: “DHS’s plans were always illegal: the Roxbury warehouse is a logistics center fit for packages, not thousands of people, and did nothing to make New Jersey safer.”
Discussions surrounding ICE warehouses also spurred local officials in the Philadelphia region to voice their concerns about such sites.
In Bucks County, commissioners unanimously passed a resolution in February opposing any immigration detention or processing facilities. U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), who represents Bucks County and a sliver of Montgomery County, said he received assurances from the federal government that no ICE warehouses were planned in his district.
Staff writer Stephen Stirling contributed to this article.
In January, Danny Ceisler inherited a Bucks County Sheriff’s office that was a lightning rod for debate over deputies’ role in federal immigration enforcement. Now, as he reflects on the changes he’s made in his first six months in office, Ceisler says he is bringing the office back to standard procedure with a shift in staffing to prioritize addressing domestic violence.
That shift comes amid an increase in the number of warrants — called Protection From Abuse orders— served against alleged perpetrators of domestic violence.
Between February and May,Ceisler’s office has served 441 PFAs — an increase from the 370 that were served during the same time period last year.
Ceisler, a Democrat who flipped the seat after four years of GOP control, has dedicated more staffing and resources to ensure those warrants are served in a timely manner, which can often be a life-or-death situation.
“I view it as one of our real life-saving duties,” Ceisler said. “I mean if we can get an abuser out of a house at 8 p.m. on a Friday instead of 9 a.m. on a Monday — which is kind of what used to happen if they came in on Fridays — you could save a person’s life.”
Last November, Ceisler ousted former Sheriff Fred Harran, a Republican, who came under scrutinyfor his embrace of President Donald Trump’s style of politics and his willingness to commit his office to a controversial agreement to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in federal immigration enforcement in the county.
In addition, Ceisler has developed a so-called “armory” that holds confiscated weapons and added six people to a round-the-clock unit dedicated to evicting alleged abusers from their homes based on judicial orders.
Jen Locker, executive director at A Woman’s Place, a Bucks County-based shelter and community organization for survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence, said that throughout her 13 years working at the nonprofit, the sheriff’s office has always been “really phenomenal” at being present during hearings for PFA warrants and ensuring survivors feel safe. The organization offers court accompaniment services and assistance in filling out PFA petitions.
But the biggest shift came when A Woman’s Place and the sheriff’s office met early on in Ceisler’s tenure and advocates expressed that one of the biggest challenges survivors face is the delay in serving PFAs.
Soon after the meeting, Locker said, Ceisler prioritized the eviction unit.
“Getting the offenders out of the home and getting the weapons out of the home are really, really crucial in maintaining safety for the survivors who are just trying to find a path forward safely,” Locker said.
Ceisler’s counterparts in the other Philadelphia suburbs say the work he’s doing is one of the core functions of any sheriff’s office.
And Ceisler argues that he’s bringing the office back to basics, noting that at one point he had to reassign deputies who were tasked with planning firearms training and that the office spent a lot of time on ICE training.
“One of my predecessor’s issues was he was stepping on the toes of police departments and trying to do more police work or federal, you know, immigration work,” Ceisler said. “We’re just doing what we are statutorily empowered to do, and trying to do it to the very best of our ability.”
According to data provided by the sheriff’s office, there has been a 94.1% clearance rate for PFAs under Ceisler’s tenure between February and March and a 90.4% rate during that same period last year under Harran. A “cleared” PFA means the warrant was successfully delivered, and any weapons were confiscated.
In an interview, Harran pushed back on the characterization that the office, under his leadership,was dedicated to anything but local law enforcement issues. And he was adamant that deputies working under him also served PFA warrants, with a dedicated, four-person unit doing that work exclusively.
“Danny knows the truth: We were never doing the work of immigration. I’ve said it a million times, I’ve testified with my hand on a Bible to it,” he said. “I don’t know what more I could’ve done to tell people that’s not what we were doing.”
Ceisler’s “armory,” he said, is also not a new concept. Harran said he was in the process of establishing one.
“Domestic violence is not going away,” he said. “To say he created a new unit, tomato, tomahto, call it whatever you want, we were doing same thing.”
Former Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran stands following County Commissioners meeting last year when they approved a resolution opposing his deputies participating in an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement 287(g) program to act as ICE officers.
In most of the other suburban counties, the sheriffs — all Democrats — say their offices have been serving the vast majority of PFA orders.
In Chester County, Sheriff Kevin Dykes said his office has processed 247 PFA orders in the first quarter of 2026, as well as recovered eight firearms relinquished through that process. Dykes said his office rarely, if ever, has a backlog of PFA orders waiting to be filed, and works closely with local police departments to avoid that situation.
“I think where the issue came in with Bucks is that Danny stepped into an office where the person running it had different priorities,” Dykes said. “In this instance, it’s just how the nature of this business is. One day we could have a high-profile trial in the courthouse, and the next we could have a threat on an official. It just changes day-to-day for us.”
In Montgomery County, Sheriff Sean Kilkenny said his deputies are responsible for serving three-quarters of the PFAs filed. Last year that amounted to about 1,600.
Kilkenny formerly headed the state’s Sheriff’s Association, and said having those departments take the lead in handling PFAs is the industry standard, one that he said has worked well for counties across Pennsylvania.He added that Ceisler “getting under the hood” of the process is part of the job for a new official.
In Delaware County, where newly elected Sheriff Saddiq Kamara is wrestling with a staffing shortage, the sheriff’s office one day hopes to use Ceisler’s initiatives as a model.
Kamara, a former Yeadon Police officer and onetime member of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s security detail, said his office currently has 35 vacancies for deputies. He’s working to reverse that, and has recently hired seven new deputies, but said the shortage has forced him to leave the serving of PFAs to local police departments.
“It’s something that I really would like for us to do as well, but the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office is the third-busiest in the state,” said Kamara, referring to the number of prisoners they transport daily, as well as applications they receive for gun permits and other filings.
“We just don’t have the capability of the resources and the man and woman power in our office,” he said. “What Danny is doing I think is a phenomenal idea, and we’re planning to do that in the near future as well.”
