CHARLEROI, Pa., A small Pennsylvania town has been included in a national conversation about immigration to the United States after former President Trump singled it out as a victim of mass Haitian migration, and some residents said they believe the town is now the former president is endorsing in November.
“The small town of Charleroi, Pennsylvania, population 4,000, have you heard of it?” Trump said in September in Tucson, Arizona. “What a beautiful name, but it’s not so beautiful anymore. It has seen a 2,000% increase in the Haitian immigrant population under Kamala Harris.”
Charleroi, in Washington County, is a small city along the Monongahela River that has seen a significant influx of immigrants, particularly from Haiti, in recent years. But the extent of that influx is disputed.
TRUMP SOUNDS THE ALARM ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT KILLERS: ‘MANY BAD GENES IN OUR COUNTRY’
The city of Charleroi, Pennsylvania. (Adam Shaw/Fox News Digital)
Some officials and residents say talk of being overwhelmed is an exaggeration. They say that the numbers have been increasing, but it is not the 2,000% that Trump spoke of. Authorities say the latest census showed about 700 Haitians in the city of 4,000 people. They also say they are helping to revitalize a city, finding employment, including at a nearby food processing plant.
“This has been going on since 2015,” Charleroi district administrator Joe Manning told Fox News Digital. “The way it’s been presented that this is an unexpected surge in illegal immigrants is not the case. First of all, everyone is here legally and there has been no disruption in the community or anything like that.“.
“Everyone thinks that because of what has been said, our lives have changed in some way. And that is not the reality,” he said.
He acknowledged that there were some who were upset by the change: “But overall, the community just lives and lets live.”
Others disagreed.
NEW POLL REVEALS TRUMP HAS SIGNIFICANT LEADERSHIP ON IMMIGRATION AND BORDER SECURITY IN KEY BATTLEFIELD STATE
“The Haitian invasion,” said resident Kevin Armstrong, whose home sported huge pro-Trump banners. “It’s sad, they have taken over our city.”
Armstrong said his car insurance had increased due to the number of uninsured drivers in the area. He also said he was pleased that former President Trump mentioned Charleroi.
“That was amazing. I mean, for the president of the United States to recognize a small town like this and what’s going on, it’s bigger than you and me. That’s at the highest level on earth right there. And that for him to realize that or for him to hear about it and mention it in a speech, that’s huge.“
Jeannine Motycki, however, told Fox News Digital that Trump “embellished just a little bit.”
The city of Charleroi has seen an influx of Haitian immigrants. (Adam Shaw/Fox News Digital)
“If we had an influx of 2,000%, the streets would be full. We don’t have that many houses, we don’t have that much land.”
VANCE, WALZ SPAR ON IMMIGRATION DURING VP DEBATE: STATE ON THE BORDER ‘MORE THAN OUR BORDER Czar
But he said there had been problems: “We have a very diverse culture clash, it is not a Haitian issue, in my opinion it is a cultural issue.”
“Do I think he has destroyed the city? No, I personally think he has destroyed more local inhabitants of the city with his ways of thinking. They do not conform to our culture, that is a fact, they have their own culture and they still live according to their culture,” he said.
“There is a lot of hate here and racism is rampant,” he added.
Another woman pointed out the number of local businesses immigrants opened and said Trump’s comments had divided the city, saying “it seems like there is a division in our city now, even more than before.”
Many of those who spoke to Fox News Digital were happy to talk at length about their complaints, but were not prepared to give their full names, worried about being attacked by neighbors or employers.
But some complaints were similar to those in Springfield, Ohio, which was also the focus of the effects of mass migration in September. Residents Fox spoke to cited poor driving as a common feature in the city, as well as pressure on social services, including schools.
“Probably more than half the population here is them right now?” said a resident with Trump paraphernalia outside his home. “So if there are that many houses, that many resources in any city, of course, they will be affected. So that’s the other thing… there have been multiple robberies, muggings, accidents, constantly, sirens going off all the time, people who “They get into car accidents, they drive the wrong way, they go in the wrong directions on one-way roads.”
Another 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 that you have to stop everywhere you are because you don’t know if they’re going to stop when they get to a highway. You have to do it.” Look both ways on a one-way street because you don’t even know.”
However, city police say there has been no increase in 911 calls or reported traffic accidents in recent years, and both numbers remain relatively stable.
“I would have to say that, from our call volume, [immigrants] it may be 10 to 15% of our call volume, and the rest is all, you know, the local Americans that you’re dealing with,” Police Chief Chad Zelinsky told Fox News Digital.
“As far as calls go, they’re no different than anyone else. And our numbers haven’t gone up because of them,” he said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The city’s political leaning is now clearly toward the former president. While there were a handful of Harris-Walz signs, they were significantly outnumbered by Trump-Vance signs, including mockups of Trump as Rambo and anti-Biden signs with expletives.
Manning said the county as a whole is going Republican.
“As far as the city leans, a lot of the council members are Democrats, I think we might have three Republicans, but Washington County itself has gone a lot Republican, so I expect the November vote to be Republican. “
Others said they believed the city was firmly on Trump’s side.
“Oh, it’s definitely Trump,” Motycki, a former City Council member, laughed when asked who he thought the city would vote for. He said the city was traditionally more Democratic. “I don’t see many Harris supporters. There aren’t many.”
Another local, who gave his name as Dave, was confident that the immigrant issue was having an effect: “It’s absolutely having a political effect. I haven’t seen many Walz-Harris signs anywhere. I mean, I’ve seen some here and there, but for every Harris sign I see, I see 10 to 15 Trump signs.
