Haitian immigration fills city in key battleground zone with signs of pro-Trump support growing
CHARLEROI, PA., A Pennsylvania town has entered the national debate about US immigration, after former President Trump singled it out as a victim of Haitian immigration — some residents say they believe the town is now pro-national. former president in November.
“The small town of 4,000 people in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, have you heard of it?” Trump said in September in Tucson, Arizona. “What a great name, but not so great now. It has experienced a 2,000% increase in Haitian immigration under Kamala Harris.”
Charleroi, Washington County, is a small town on the Monongahela River, which has seen a large influx of immigrants — mostly from Haiti — in recent years. But the extent of that influx is disputed.
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Town of Charleroi, Pennsylvania. (Adam Shaw/Fox News Digital)
Some officials and residents say their frustrations are being talked about. They say the numbers have been going up, but it’s not the 2,000% Trump is talking about. Officials say the last census showed about 700 Haitians in the town of 4,000. They also said they are helping to revitalize the city, finding work including a nearby food production facility.
“This has been going on since 2015,” Charleroi Borough Manager Joe Manning told Fox News Digital. “The way it’s been portrayed is that this is an unexpected increase in illegal immigration. First of all, they’re all here legally, there’s been no disruption to the community or anything like that..”
“Everybody thinks that because of what is being said, that our lives have been elevated in some way. And that is not true,” he said.
He admitted that there are those who are upset by this change: “But especially the community, they just live and live.
Others did not agree.
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“It’s an attack on the Haitian people,” said resident Kevin Armstrong, whose house sported large pro-Trump banners. “It’s sad, they have taken our city.”
Armstrong said his car insurance was raised because of the number of uninsured drivers in the area. He also said he was happy that former President Trump spoke about Charleroi.
“That was amazing. I mean, for the president of the United States to see a small town like this and what’s going on, it’s bigger than you and me. It’s the highest in the country right there. And for him to recognize that or to hear about that and bring it up in a speech, that’s huge.“
Jeannine Motycki, however, told Fox News Digital that Trump “embellished a little.”
The city of Charleroi has seen an influx of Haitian immigrants. (Adam Shaw/Fox News Digital)
“If we went in at 2,000%, the roads would be filled. We don’t have that many houses, we don’t have that much land.”
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But he said there were problems: “We have a clash of very different cultures, it’s not a Haitian issue, it’s a cultural issue in my opinion.”
“Do I think that the city has been destroyed? No, I think that it has destroyed a lot of local people in the city in their way of thinking. They don’t agree with our culture, that’s the truth, they have their own culture and still live in their own culture,” he said.
“There is so much hatred here, and racism is rampant,” he added.
One woman pointed to the number of local businesses that have been opened by immigrants, saying Trump’s comments have divided the city, saying “it seems like there’s a divide in our city, more than ever.”
Many who spoke to Fox News Digital were happy to talk more about their grievances, but were reluctant to give their full names — worried about being targeted by neighbors or employers.
But other complaints were similar to those in Springfield, Ohio, which also focused on the effects of the mass exodus in September. Residents Fox spoke of impaired driving as a common occurrence in the city, and pressure on social services including schools.
“Probably more than half of the people here see them now?” One resident with Trump paraphernalia outside his home said. “So when there’s so many houses, so many services in any city, they’re going to be affected. So the other thing … there’s been a lot of break-ins, robberies, accidents, always, sirens going off all the time. , people having car accidents, drivers in the wrong way, going the wrong way down the roads to the same place.”
One resident described it as “chaos.”
Charleroi is a small town in Pennsylvania. (Adam Shaw/Fox News Digital)
“It’s like playing dodgeball with your car every day because you don’t know if you have to stop everywhere you go because you don’t know if it will stop when it comes to the road. You have to look both ways on the same road because you never know.”
However, city police say there has been no increase in 911 calls or reported traffic accidents in recent years, as both numbers have remained stable.
“I would have to say that with our call volume, [immigrants] it might be 10 to 15% of our call volume, and the rest of that is, you know, the American people at home that you’re dealing with,” Police Chief Chad Zelinsky told Fox News Digital.
“Call wise, they were different from others. Our statistics did not increase because of them,” he says.
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The political bias in this city is now clear towards the former president. While there were a few Harris-Walz signs, they were far outnumbered by the Trump-Vance signs — including mocking Trump as Rambo and anti-Biden signs with explosives.
Manning said the district as a whole is turning Republican.
“In terms of how the city leans, most of the people on the council are Democrats, I think we have maybe three Republicans, but Washington County itself has become very Republican so I would fully expect the vote to go in November. Republican.”
Some say they believe the city is in Trump’s camp.
“Not exactly Trump,” laughed Motycki, a former county council member, when asked who he thought the city was voting for. He said the city was traditionally full of Democrats. “I don’t see too many Harris fans. Not many.”
One local, who gave his name as Dave, hoped the immigration issue had an impact: “It definitely has an impact on politics. I haven’t seen many Walz-Harris signs anywhere. I mean, I’ve seen a few here and there, but for every Harris sign I see, I see Trump signs 10 to 15.”
