Almost a month after abruptly dismantling exhibits about slavery from the President’s House Site, National Park Service employees began reinstalling the panels late Thursday morning ahead of a court-imposed deadline.
Just before 11 a.m., four park service employees carted glass panels from a white van to a barricaded area at the site. They screwed each panel back into the bricks before cleaning the glass with rags.
The restoration is a win for the City of Philadelphia and local stakeholders who have been fighting to preserve the President’s House after President Donald Trump’s administration ordered the removal of educational panels from the exhibit on Independence Mall last month, censoring 400 years of history. The removal sparked weeks of community activism that turned into celebrations Thursday once the reinstallation began.
As of Thursday evening, 16 of the 34 panels had been reinstalled. A couple of bystanders clapped as the displays were put back up.
Shortly before noon, Parker arrived at the scene, taking in the newly reinstalled exhibits. She shook hands with and thanked the National Park Service employees.
“It’s our honor,” an employee told the mayor.
Parker did not take questions from the media but later issued a statement celebrating the return of the exhibits.
“We know that this is not the end of the legal road,” the mayor said. “We will handle all legal challenges that arise with the same rigor and gravity as we have done thus far.”
Michael Coard, an attorney and leader of Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, which helped steer efforts to preserve the President’s House, called Thursday’s reinstallation a “huge victory” after weeks of advocacy in court and around the site itself.
“We had people doing something at least every single day since the vandalism took place on Jan. 22, and we’ve had the attorneys in court, so it’s a great day, but the battle is not over,” Coard said.
On Wednesday, several employees from Independence National Historical Park placed metal barriers around the brick walls where panels had been displayed near the open-air exhibit’s Market Street entrance. One employee said the barriers were set up so employees could clean the area.
Prior to Thursday, exhibits were being stored in a National Park Service storage facility adjacent to the National Constitution Center.
The reinstallation was a moment that Philadelphians who had been tirelessly fighting to protect the President’s House had been waiting for.
On Jan. 22, after park employees took crowbars and wrenches to the President’s House, which memorializes the nine people George Washington enslaved at his Philadelphia residence, the City of Philadelphia filed suit against members of the Trump administration. Community stakeholders took action to preserve the memory of the site.
“It’s important to hang on to hope,” said Bill Rooney, 68, of Chestnut Hill. “The people who lived here — sometimes that’s all they had to hold on to. We need to do that, too, and [make] sure that the whole history is told.”
Rooney, a certified tour guide, added: “History matters. All of history matters.”
Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee, issued a blistering 40-page opinion in which she compared the federal government’s arguments justifying the removal of the interpretive panels to the dystopian Ministry of Truth from George Orwell’s novel 1984.
The opinion said it was urgent that the full exhibit be shown to the public. When the federal government did not comply 48 hours later, the judge set a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday for the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service to fulfill her order.
The Trump administration asked Rufe on Wednesday night for a stay on the injunction while its appeal is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
The motion says enforcement of the order makes Philadelphia a “backseat driver holding veto power” in all decisions related to Independence National Historical Park. By forcing the government to restore the slavery panels, the court “compels the Government to convey a message that it has chosen not to convey,” the motion says.
The city filed a brief Thursday opposing the stay, saying that the federal government did not add anything new to its argument. The idea that the restoration would cause harm was undermined by the fact that the exhibits “stood for 15 years without alteration, conveying the ‘whole, complicated truth,’” the city said. The filing does not acknowledge that some panels had been reinstalled.
Rufe had not ruled on the stay as of Thursday afternoon. But neither the federal government’s appeal to a higher court nor the request for a stay pauses Rufe’s order.
Complying with the order could complicate the federal agencies’ argument that restoring the panel inflicts irreparable harm because they have “turned around and done what they said they couldn’t do,” said Marsha Levick, a visiting chair at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.
Attorney Michael Coard, leader of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition speaks during a rally at the President’s House in Independence National Historical Park Thursday, Feb, 19, 2026, after some of the slavery exhibits were returned.
The people behind the fight to restore the President’s House Site were lauded at a late-afternoon rally. Organizers had called the 120-person event after the barricades were installed Wednesday, which they said prevented people from visiting the memorial. Instead, the event Thursday — set to Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” and “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy — was celebratory.
“We’re still fighting. The battle is still being fought in court,” said coalition member Mijuel Johnson. “But today — this greatest day, this day of pride — we got our panels put back up.”
Coard said Thursday’s development epitomizes the group’s name. He said his coalition’s advocacy for the President’s House stands on the shoulders of activism by ancestors during the Civil Rights Movement.
“We took that baton from them and we ran with it,” Coard said. “And the interesting thing about taking that baton is that this track was not as difficult for us. They had more obstacles on their track. We have fewer because they cleared it for us.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro implored Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem this week to reconsider converting warehouses in Berks and Schuylkill counties into mass immigration detention centers, citing “real harms” to the communities.
In a Thursday letter to Noem obtained by The Inquirer, Shapiro questioned the legality of the facilities, which the governor said could hold up to 9,000 people in total.
Hinting at a possible lawsuit, Shapiro said if DHS goes through with converting the sites, his administration will “aggressively pursue every option to prevent these facilities from opening and needlessly harming the good people of Pennsylvania.”
As part of President Donald Trump’s expanding deportation agenda, the federal government has started purchasing warehouses across the country to flip into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers. ICE is planning to spend $38.3 billion turning warehouses into detention centers, The Washington Post reported.
Shapiro slammed the department’s escalating immigration enforcement strategy, saying that ICE and other federal immigration agents “resort to unnecessary and excessive force, leading to innocent people being injured or tragically killed.”
“Your Department’s record is reason enough to oppose your plan to use warehouses in Schuylkill and Berks Counties as detention centers,” Shapiro wrote, adding that the warehouses would also negatively impact residents’ health and safety, deplete tax revenue, and put extra stress on local communities and emergency response.
Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, confirmed ICE’s purchase of these two warehouses and the department’s plans to use them as detention facilities in a statement to The Inquirer Friday.
She said that the sites will “undergo community impact studies and a rigorous due diligence process to make sure there is no hardship on local utilities or infrastructure prior to purchase” and that the facilities would create economic benefits, including bringing more than 11,000 jobs to the two Pennsylvania communities in total.
“Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE has new funding to expand detention space to keep these criminals off American streets before they are removed for good from our communities,” McLaughlin said.
He’s said the Trump administration’s strategies in American cities make communities less safe, violate constitutional rights, and erode trust in law enforcement.
In his letter to Noem, Shapiro said that DHS has not engaged local leaders to discuss the warehouse purchases and that both Democratic and Republican state and local officials have objected to the department’s “plans to interfere with our communities because of the chaos and harm your actions will bring.”
Some of Shapiro’s cabinet secretaries also penned an additional letter to Noem where they stressed that the facilities would be detrimental to the communities’ environment and public health and safety.
“The stress each facility will place on local infrastructure will, among other things, jeopardize Pennsylvanians’ access to safe water, deplete resources and infrastructure needed for emergencies, and overextend already strained emergency response personnel,” wrote Pennsylvania Health Secretary Debra L. Bogen, Fire Commissioner Thomas Cook, Emergency Management Director Randy Padfield, Environmental Protection Secretary Jessica Shirley, and Labor Secretary Nancy A. Walker.
In addition to the warehouses, DHS is also leasing new office space throughout the country, including in the Philadelphia area. The department said back-office staff, including lawyers and analysts, will be moving into a building in Berwyn, and the department will also share space with the Department of Motor Vehicles at Eighth and Arch Streets in Center City, WIRED reported.
Despite the governor’s vocal opposition to Trump’s enforcementstrategies, Pennsylvania still cooperates with ICE. Shapiro’s administration honors some ICE detainers in state prisons and provides ICE with access to state databases that include personal identifying information for immigrants.
Immigrant rights groups have for months called on Shapiro to take more decisive action against federal immigration enforcement in Pennsylvania and end all cooperation with the agency.
As the Department of Homeland Security approaches an increasingly likely shutdown this weekend, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Bucks) said reforms to ICE, including banning masks for federal immigration agents, should be a part of any funding extensions for DHS.
“I’m the only federal agent in Congress,” Fitzpatrick, who served in the FBI for 14 years, said in an interview Thursday. “I spent my whole professional career as an FBI agent. Never once did I wear a mask, never. Executing a search warrant, arrest warrant, you name it, because you need to be transparent. You need to identify yourself. The whole function of policing requires the trust of the public.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol, the agencies involved in the fatal shootings of two American citizens last month in Minnesota, both fall under DHS, which will enter a shutdown if lawmakers do not reach a funding deal by Friday.
The Border Patrol and ICE would continue to operate after receiving funding from President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but a lapse in funding to DHS would affect other agencies under the department, including the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, of which many employees would be working without pay.
Democrats have demanded that restrictions on masking and other changes to immigration enforcement be part of any funding deal.
Fitzpatrick, who represents a purple district, is rare among Republicans in accepting Democrats’ proposal as Congress grapples with a national reckoning over Trump’s immigration crackdown after federal agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in shootings caught on video.
“There is broken trust between the public and ICE, and we have to restore that trust,” Fitzpatrick said.
“And the only way you restore that trust is by enacting reforms that are going to rebuild that social contract,” he continued. “Because policing is a social contract, whether it be local law enforcement or federal law enforcement.”
In the aftermath of the shootings in Minnesota, the House ended a four-day government shutdown earlier this month by passing a five-bill funding package that excluded DHS. Fitzpatrick, who voted for the House bill, said he would aim to work with Democrats to come up with a solution.
Negotiations on DHS’s allocation appeared to be at a standstill Thursday ahead of lawmakers going on a 10-day break, making a partial shutdown appear likely. In the U.S. Senate, a vote to advance a funding bill was rejected in a 52-47 tally Thursday, falling short of the necessary 60-vote threshold, the Associated Press reported.
“The agents wearing masks, I think primarily that’s driven by people are going to dox those people. That’s a serious concern, too, absolutely,” Fetterman said in a Fox News interview with correspondent Jacqui Heinrich (who is engaged to Fitzpatrick).
Whether ICE agents should be allowed to wear masks has become a point of contention since the escalation of Trump’s immigration policies, with legislative bodies across the U.S., including in Philadelphia City Council, introducing legislation to prohibit them.
Fitzpatrick, cochair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, said Thursday that he believes there is “unanimity” among lawmakers in Washington for reforms, like requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras and prohibiting them from wearing masks.
The Bucks County lawmaker, one of nine Republicans representing districts that went for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2024, has frequently touted his willingness to break withTrump on issues, such as voting to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies and opposing the final passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill. (Democratic opponents note that he cast a key vote to advance an earlier version of Trump’s legislation.)
As for next steps, Fitzpatrick said he and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D., N.Y.), cochair of the Problem Solvers Caucus with Fitzpatrick, are continuing to communicate with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) as discussions over DHS funding and changes continue.
“I would hope that we can all agree that everybody needs to be treated humanely and with respect and with dignity, that everybody believes in upholding the rule of law, everybody believes in the constitutional rights of everybody in this country,” Fitzpatrick said.
Talking to reporters gathered at the front of an auditorium at Montgomery County Community College, the collar county’s top officials engaged in a friendly back-and-forth about something local leaders have had to pay unprecedented attention to since last year: how to handle any future federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump.
Within the last year, counties have navigated uncertainty surrounding reductions in funding under the Trump administration. In Montgomery County, those cuts have jeopardized key resources for public health, higher education, and homeless services.
“Naturally, our teams are following what’s coming out of [the Department of Housing and Urban Development], what’s happening with SNAP. We’re trying to anticipate,” said Jamila Winder, a Democrat and thechair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.
Community needs “that arise from the cuts to SNAP and the cuts to Medicaid are significant,” said vice chair Neil Makhija, a Democrat.
Tom DiBello, the board’s lone Republican, had a different view.
“Well, we also have to maybe look at what those reductions are, why those reductions are occurring … and I know this is where we divide,” he said.
Crossing the aisle has become rare in the rancorous national political environment. But at Montgomery County Community College on Wednesday, the commissioners emphasized at their annual State of the County address that they are striving for cooperation to be their norm, even as lawmakers in Harrisburg and Washington struggle to work together.
The commissioners have navigated their own tense moments in recent months, particularly related to immigration.
“Look, there are definitely things that we disagree on as a team, but what’s most important is that we’re able to fund the services that we provide to people in Montgomery County,” Winder told reporters.
Montgomery County commissioners and row officers stand on stage during introductions.
Wednesday’s address featured the commissioners reflecting on the county’s accomplishments in 2025 and outlining their goals for the year ahead to an audience of constituents and officials. Those include opening shelters for people experiencing homelessness, determining how to best integrate artificial intelligence in county services, and cutting red tape for residents trying to access local services.
And it was also sprinkled with displays of camaraderie despite political differences, such as the commissioners touting 2026’s bipartisan budget as the first in nearly a decade or DiBello going in for a hug after turning the microphone over to Winder for her closing remarks.
“If there’s one thing I want you to take away from today, it’s this: Under our collective leadership as commissioners, this board will continue to put politics aside to do what’s best for our communities,” Winder said at the address, of which the theme was “collaboration.”
But their interactions have not always fit the cordial image presented Wednesday.
Winder and Makhija called for ICE agents to be held accountable, while DiBello encouraged respect for law enforcement and denounced the incorporation of politics into the meeting.
“People are being terrorized by masked ICE agents in Montgomery County, that’s what we’re saying. And if you can’t be empathetic to that, that’s disconcerting,” Winder said at the time.
Thomas DiBello, the lone Republican commissioner, walks to the podium for remarks during the Montgomery County’s 2026 State of County event in Blue Bell. At right is Jamila H. Winder, the board’s Democratic chair.
“No matter what, we should be respecting our law enforcement agencies until they break the law,” DiBello responded.
On Wednesday, immigration-related disagreements lingered when Makhija told reporters about his opposition to ICE buying warehouses in Pennsylvania, including in Berks County, that may be used to detain people.
“Again we divide, because I will support the rule of law,” DiBello said on immigration enforcement. ”I stand with law enforcement, and if people want changes, they need to go to Washington and ask and promote those changes.”
Montgomery County elected officials forcefully condemned a Monday ICE arrest in which agents broke down a family’s front door, lambasting officers for what the leaders described as needless cruelty.
“We are here for one reason, to say that this kind of brutality is completely unacceptable,” said State Sen. Art Haywood, a Democrat who represents parts of Montgomery County and Philadelphia, during a news conference Tuesdayin Norristown.
Neighbors watched in Lower Providence on Monday as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement action turned into an hours-long siege, with the street blocked off and more than a dozen government vehicles outside a home in an effort to take one man into custody.
The local leaders’ comments came amid a national debate over President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda, following violent operations in Minnesota in which federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens last month.
“ICE agents, if you can hear me, do not follow these cruel orders that violate the basic dignity that we all recognize, and for all immigrants who are terrified … we stand with you,” Haywood said.
ICE officials in Philadelphia did not respond to a request for comment.
Montgomery County has become a hot spot for ICE activity, and the Norristown area has come under particular scrutiny, with about one-third of the population identifying as Latino. In July, in one of its most high-profile operations in the Philadelphia region, ICE arrested 14 people at a food market near Norristown, about two miles north of the home where Monday’s arrest took place.
Rachel Rutter, an attorney and the executive director of Project Libertad, was at the scene of the arrest Monday.
She said it appeared the man was going to work when agents attempted to stop his car, and the vehicles tapped. Each blamed the other, she added. The man, who was not immediately identified, subsequently went inside the home at Ridge Pike and North Barry Avenue in Lower Providence Township.
By about 10 a.m., agents had arrived and moved into positions around the property. Videos showed the road blocked off with yellow police tape.
Some agents approached the house, Rutter said, and at least one could be seen waving at someone who was filming from inside. Rutter said family members told her federal agents later obtained a warrant and subsequently broke through the door to arrest the man.
The Department of Homeland Security statement said Wednesday that ICE was conducting a targeted operation to arrest Jose Manuel Cordova Lopez, a Mexican national who overstayed his visa after it expired in 2021 and who in 2025 was charged with driving under the influence.
To try to evade arrest, DHS said, he “weaponized his vehicle” and rammed an ICE vehicle, then fled into his house and refused to come out. ICE subsequently obtained a criminal warrant and arrested him, the agency said.
On Tuesday,elected officials said they were especially concerned with the manner in which Monday’s arrest was carried out.
Janine Darby, a Lower Providence Township supervisor, described seeing at least 20 unmarked vehicles, some with Uber stickers, along with agents from ICE and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. She added that an ambulance was called for a family member in the house who had been “punched in the face.”
“Inside the home, what I saw was devastating,” Darby said. “Children crying, a family in shock, and a home destroyed after agents broke down the door.”
State Sen. Katie Muth (D., Montgomery) said that ICE arrests make communities less safe and less trusting of law enforcement.
“You allow this kind of unlawful behavior without due process to happen to one person, it can happen to anyone,” Muth said.
Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija, a Democrat and vice chair of the board, said Tuesday that “it’s incredibly important that we continue to show that we are taking steps to protect every resident’s rights.”
Immigration activists have repeatedly called for Montgomery County officials to adopt a formal ordinance or resolution to officially become a “welcoming county.”
The Democratic-led board of commissioners has not done so, citing limits to its power and concern about creating a false sense of security for immigrants. Last year, county officials approved a policy limiting communication between county employees and ICE and said they would not honor prison-detainer requests without a signed judicial warrant, and the commissioners confirmed that the county will not participate in ICE’s 287(g) program, which authorizes local governments to assist in immigration enforcement.
State Rep. Greg Scott (D., Montgomery) said community advocacy is crucial, adding that residents witnessing and recording ICE activity are documenting “reality.”
“Keep on recording, keep that spare battery pack in your pocket,” he said. “Keep it in your car, keep your phones charged. We got to keep recording to hold people accountable.”
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Bucks)called on President Donald Trump to apologize for sharing a racist video Thursday night on Truth Social that depicts former President Barack Obama, the country’s first Black president, and former first lady Michelle Obama, as apes.
“Whether intentional or careless, this post is a grave failure of judgment and is absolutely unacceptable from anyone — most especially from the President of the United States. A clear and unequivocal apology is owed,” Fitzpatrick wrote in a post on X Friday afternoon.
The Bucks County Republican, who will be defending a key swing district this fall, joined a bipartisan ensemble of lawmakers who are condemning Trump’s post, which was deleted Friday after the widespread backlash.
“Donald Trump is a bigoted, small-minded man who has long spewed racist remarks and tried to whitewash our nation’s history. Today he finds a new low,” said U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Philadelphia), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, in a post on X. “His recent post is vile, disgusting, and abhorrently racist. Every elected official should speak up and condemn this hate.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) in a statement to The Inquirer, called the president’s post “indefensible and horrendous.”
“That garbage came from, and should forever remain in, the twisted and grotesque corners of the internet,” he said.
Fitzpatrick, a moderate representing a purple county, has disagreed with Trump before but the lawmaker’s comments Friday serve as one of his strongest rebukes yet.
“Racism and hatred have no place in our country — ever. They divide our people and weaken the foundations of our democracy,“ Fitzpatrick wrote. “History leaves no doubt: when division is inflamed by those in positions of power, the consequences are real and lasting.”
The White House blamed a staffer for the video, which was posted just fivedays into Black History Month, The Associated Press reported. This came after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said there was “fake outrage” over the post and that it was a meme inspired by The Lion King.
In addition to the Obamas, other Democratic leaders, including former President Joe Biden, were depicted as various animals in the video, which was set to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and features Trump as the “King of the Jungle.” The clip of the Obamas appears to have originally come from a conservative user on X, The New York Times reported.
In addition to the election officials reacting with horror, Rt. Rev. Daniel G.P. Gutiérrez, bishopof the Episcopal Diocese in Pennsylvania, said that he was “repulsed and sickened” by Trump’s post and called on the president toresign.
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa) condemned the video late Friday afternoon after the White House had blamed it on a staffer.
“Posting this video is unacceptable and thankfully it has been taken down. It should never have been posted and does not represent who we are as a nation. Racism has no place in America,” McCormick said in a post on X.
Other Republican senators moved faster to publicly condemn Trump’s post.
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.), the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, said Friday morning, “It’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it.”
The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday voted 217-214 to end the partial government shutdown on its fourth day, avoiding a repeat of last year’s 43-day standoff.
The House passed a five-bill package that includes funding the Departments of Defense, State, Transportation, Education, Labor, Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development.
Every House Democrat from Pennsylvania opposed the package. U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R., York) was the lone Republican from the delegation to vote against it.
Among New Jersey Democrats, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.) was among the 21 members of the party who crossed the aisle to support the bill.
As part of the deal, the House also passed 10 days of funding for the Department of Homeland Security as negotiations for longer-term will continue amid national uproar over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Funding for DHS has been the core reason behind the government shutdown after Democrats said they would not vote for an allocation to the department without reforms to federal immigration agents’ conduct after agents fatally shot two Americans in Minnesota last month.
U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R., Lehigh), who voted for the deal, said he will participate in “ongoing conversations about achieving commonsense, bipartisan reforms of DHS operations.”
In the House, only a handful of Republicans voted against the package, providing House Speaker Mike Johnson with the support he needed from the party to pass the package in the narrowly divided chamber.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of Democrats voted against the bill, with immigration enforcement remaining a top issue.
"We are in a dangerous and deadly place," U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D, Montgomery) said in a statement. Adding that with DHS receiving funding until Feb. 13, "ICE agents can continue their grotesque and thuggish behavior. Meaning Congress has only ten days to agree on reform,” she said.
Now that Trump has signed the bill, Republicans and Democrats still need to hammer out a long-term deal on DHS, which oversees ICE and the Border Patrol.
Retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Philadelphia) said in a statement that he would “need to see much-needed guardrails and protections being put into law” before he can support more funding for the agencies.
DHS also oversees TSA and an extended funding lapse could affect air travel.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a moderate Republican from Bucks County, voted for the government funding package Tuesday and plans to work with Democrats in the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus on reforms to ICE, his spokesperson said.
Staff Contributors
Design, Development and Data: Sam Morris
Reporting: Fallon Roth
Editing: Bryan Lowry
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Pete Buttigieg, former President Joe Biden’s transportation secretary and a potential presidential hopeful for 2028, has endorsed Democrat Bob Brooks, a firefighter running for Congress in the Lehigh Valley.
Buttigieg’s endorsement of Brooks,shared first with The Inquirer, illustrates the political importance of the Lehigh Valley, a national bellwether.
Democrats see the 7th Congressional District as one of a limited number of flippable Republican-held seats in the 2026 midterms. It’s also notable that Buttigieg, who could once again be on the national stage in 2028, is weighing into politics in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state.
“People are seeking leaders who understand their lives and fight for their needs,” Buttigieg said in a news release, noting Brook’s experience as a firefighter, union leader, and snowplow driver.
“He understands the urgency of lowering costs because he’s lived it – working long hours, juggling jobs, and fighting for a paycheck that actually covers the basics,” Buttigieg added. “It’s a perspective Washington needs more of, and I’m proud to endorse him.”
This undated photo provided by Bob Brooks for Congress in August 2025 shows Bob Brooks, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association. (Bob Brooks for Congress via AP)
In addition to Buttigieg, Brooks has also received the backing of Gov. Josh Shapiro (another potential 2028 candidate), Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), various unions, and other elected officials.
Brooks said in the news release that Buttigieg’s endorsement “means a great deal.”
“He’s focused on listening to new voices and making government work for everyday people at a time when too many feel shut out and left behind,” Brooks said. “It’s an honor to have him on board as we fight to build a Congress that looks like and works for the people it serves.”
President Donald Trump has endorsed Mackenzie (and every other congressional Republican in Pennsylvania except Fitzpatrick) and Vice President JD Vance swung through the district in December.
But Trump may not be the boon for Mackenzie he was two years ago.
Trump made his biggest gains in the state in 2024 in the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pa., but recent interviews with voters and polling data suggests his support in the region could be dwindling heading into the midterms.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) on Thursday voted against advancing a highly contested government funding package that includes allocations for the Department of Homeland Security, despite noting his objections to shutting down the government.
The Senate voted 45-55 on the key procedural vote, failing to advance a budget package as the country moves closer to a partial government shutdown this weekend.
With Fetterman aboard, every Democrat voted against the appropriations package because of the inclusion of funding for DHS. The party previously vowed to block DHS funding in the aftermath of federal immigration agents’ fatal shooting of two Americans in Minneapolis this month.
Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) voted to advance the bill.
Fetterman’s vote came as a surprise given the senator’s comments earlier in the week, when he said he would “never vote to shut our government down, especially our Defense Department,” one of the agencies that would have received funding from the appropriations package.
It was unclear Thursday why Fetterman voted against the package, but it is unlikely to be the final version considered by the Senate, as eight Republicans also voted no. A shutdown is slated to begin Saturday if Congress does not pass a package this week.
A spokesperson for Fetterman did not immediately return a request for comment on the senator’s vote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) was among the Republicans who voted no so that he could make a motion to reconsider the legislation.
DHS oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, the agencies involved in the fatal Minnesota shootings. Democrats have been calling for a halt to additional funding in the wake of the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
But Fetterman noted Monday that the department received $178 billion from last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he opposed, and that ICE would continue to operate during a shutdown.
“A vote to shut our government down will not defund ICE,” Fetterman said.
Fetterman has previously suggested removing DHS funding from the package under consideration as a compromise. He has also urged President Donald Trump to fire DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
A reporter from the Hill posted on X minutes after the vote that Fetterman saw his no vote as setting the stage to decouple DHS funding from the other five bills under consideration, rather than triggering a shutdown.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) has pushed Republicans and the White House to strip the Department of Homeland Security funding from the rest of the bill. In a deal reached with the White House, DHS would still be funded, but for a short time to allow for negotiations on the Democrats’ demands. Other agencies included in the bill would be funded through the end of September.
Negotiations remained ongoing Thursday.
Within the last week, Fetterman faced mounting pressure from fellow Pennsylvania Democrats and constituents to vote against the package as tensions in Minneapolis continued to escalate.
On Tuesday, every Democratic member of Pennsylvania’s U.S. House delegation cosigned a letter urging Fetterman and McCormick to vote against the funding. Constituents also gathered outside Fetterman’s office in Philadelphia on Tuesday to protest his stance.
“We can no longer continue to give Homeland Security a blank check,” U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Pa.) said Thursday morning in a virtual news conference with U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Pa.).
McCormick voted as expected to advance the GOP-led legislation.
“I’m just not in favor of shutting down the government or stopping funding the government, and that’s the position that I’ve had through the last shutdown,” McCormick said about his support for the funding on a tele-town hall Tuesday night. “I’m not in favor of ever shutting down the government. It doesn’t matter what party is in power, but some people see that differently.”
If lawmakers fail to pass a package by Friday, the federal government will undergo its second shutdown in four months, starting Saturday, potentially demoralizing federal workers and inconveniencing members of the public who rely on affected services.
This shutdown would be a partial one, affecting the Departments of Defense, State, Transportation, Education, Labor, Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development in addition to DHS.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provides nutrition assistance to needy families, would not be affected.
The other four Democratic senators from the Philadelphia region — Sens. Andy Kim and Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sens. Chris Coons and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware — all joined Fetterman in voting no Thursday.
Kim argued the vote was a bipartisan rebuke of the Trump administration’s immigration strategy and said he would be working with colleagues to deliver “real security” to the American public.
“Their lawlessness has taken lives on the streets of our neighborhoods, and I’ve heard from so many about an overwhelming fear that they can be targeted next,” Kim said in a statement. “We need real changes to fix a broken and lawless system that has led to so many Americans losing trust in their government to keep them safe.”
This story is developing and will be updated.
Staff writer Aliya Schneider contributed to this article, which contains information from the Associated Press.
The exhibits will remain in the park service’s custody at the center, down the street from the President’s House, pending the outcome of the City of Philadelphia’s federal lawsuit against the Department of Interior and the National Park Service for taking down the exhibits.
But the center said it has no role in storing the exhibits.
“The storage facility [where the exhibits are being kept] is entirely under control and operation of the Park Service,” said a spokesperson for the Constitution Center, adding that the center does not have possession of or access to the space.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration is seeking an injunction to return the exhibits to the President’s House, which aims to educate visitors on the horrors of slavery and memorializes the nine people George Washington enslaved at the site during the founding of the United States.
Jali Wicker records NPS workers remove interpretive panels at the President’s House site in Independence National Historical Park Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. More than a dozen educational displays and illustrations about slavery were removed from the site, which serves as a memorial to the nine people George Washington enslaved there during the founding of America.
The location of the removed exhibits was revealed Wednesday in a motion objecting to the city’s injunction. The motion was filed by U.S. attorneys and assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, representing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron, and their respective agencies.
The legal filing also provides further details into what transpired last Thursday when park service employees removed exhibits about slavery at the President’s House.
Park service employees dismantled the exhibit after Bowron ordered Steve Sims, the park service’s acting regional director, to have workers remove the panels and turn off video displays at the site, according to the filing. Sims said the takedown was carried out the same day that Bowron requested it.
There is also a remaining sign made of wood in a metal structure that was not removed last week because additional tools were needed.
“When and if NPS removes the sign, it will be stored with the other panels,” Sims said in a declaration included in the legal filing.
The footprints embedded in the site and the Memorial Wall featuring the names of the nine people Washington enslaved will stay at the President’s House, he said.
Last year, Burgum and President Donald Trump ordered content at national parks that could “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living” to be reviewed and potentially removed.
In addition to the actions in Philadelphia, the National Park Service has reportedly removed signage about the mistreatment of Native Americans from the Grand Canyon, among other changes implemented under the orders.
Tuesday’s filing previews the Trump administration’s legal argument for a hearing scheduled Friday on Philadelphia’s suit, which could be used in other cases around the country.
The attorneys claim in the filing that this case is “fundamentally a question of Government speech,” and they accuse the city of trying to “censor” the federal government.
“Such interests are especially weighty where, as here, the City effectively seeks to compel the Federal government to engage in speech that it does not wish to convey,” the attorneys wrote.
The city’s suit has received legal backing from Gov. Josh Shapiro and the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, an advocacy group that helped establish the President’s House in the early 2000s.
The exhibit takedown has been a heartbreak for those who helped develop the site and for Philadelphians who have left artwork memorializing what the site used to be.
In a video posted to social media Tuesday, Parker said that her administration would keep “fighting” to have the panels restored to the site as the city prepares to play a central role in the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations in July.
“This history is a critical part of our nation’s origins, and it deserves to be seen and heard, not just by the people of Philadelphia, but by every person who comes to Philadelphia from around our nation and the world to see and learn from, especially as we celebrate our Semiquincentennial 250th birthday, I want the world to know you cannot erase our history,” she said.
This story has been updated to include a comment from the National Constitution Center.
