CHARLEROI, Pa. \u2014 Donald Trump was eager to tell a new horror story about this tiny Rust Belt borough where hundreds of Haitians arrived in recent years to fill factory jobs. \u201cHave you heard of it?\u201d he asked, introducing a place that would become part of his anti-immigrant closing argument.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe town is virtually bankrupt,\u201d Trump continued at a recent rally. (It wasn\u2019t.) \u201cThis flood of illegal aliens is also bringing massive crime,\u201d he said. (They weren\u2019t, and they have at least temporary authorization to live in the United States, town and factory officials said.) \u201cChar-le-roi, what a beautiful name. But it\u2019s not so beautiful now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Republican presidential nominee had sketched a misleading caricature. But he also tapped into real tensions and a powerful anger in Charleroi and far beyond \u2014 stemming from a widespread conviction that America did too much for newcomers and not enough for citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe everything he says, but I don\u2019t think America has the resources to keep helping outside people,\u201d said Charleroi resident Leighanna Girvin, 33.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m going to vote for Trump,\u201d she added \u2014 her first-ever vote for president.<\/p>\n
Trump is concluding his third-straight White House run with a heavy focus on vilifying immigrants for many of the country\u2019s problems \u2014 regardless of the facts. He has spread misinformation about Venezuelan gangs taking over residential buildings in Aurora, Colo., and racist, inaccurate tropes about Haitians eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio. Charleroi is one of the most recent examples of Trump\u2019s anti-immigration message in action \u2014 its distortions, its collateral damage and its political resonance.<\/p>\n
Interviews with three dozen voters show his pitch is appealing to many in the town and surrounding Washington County, Pa. \u2014 a red stronghold in a state that both parties view as a likely tipping point in the presidential race. It has also angered some residents and inflamed an ugly discourse scattered with baseless claims about illegal voting and a \u201cgreat replacement\u201d of native-born Americans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe use of our citizens and residents as political talking points is unacceptable,\u201d Charleroi Borough Council President Kristin Hopkins-Calcek said at a recent tense meeting where a shouting match erupted. Hopkins-Calcek has blamed Trump for \u201cdivisive rhetoric\u201d about the town aimed at \u201cpolitical gain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immigration is Trump\u2019s major focus in the final weeks of the campaign, with polls showing Democratic nominee Kamala Harris narrowing Trump\u2019s longtime advantage on another top issue, the economy. Americans have grown more opposed to undocumented immigration in recent years and also more skeptical of diversity, data show. A CNN survey conducted last month found a majority of Republicans support the idea that growing racial and ethnic diversity in the United States is mostly threatening to American culture; a third of independents agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe brought life to the community. We don\u2019t do no harm to anyone,\u201d said Evency Dorzelma, 42, who worked as a police officer in Haiti before coming to Charleroi. \u201cSo, there is no reason to fear us. There is no reason for this fearmongering, this racism campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump is vowing to carry out the largest deportation of undocumented immigrants in U.S. history and stop what he calls an \u201cinvasion.\u201d He claims without evidence that foreign countries are freeing violent inmates to send them to the United States, and he attacks immigrants in dehumanizing terms, accusing them of \u201cpoisoning the blood\u201d of the country.<\/p>\n
Voters trust Republicans over Democrats when it comes to the border, polls show, and the Trump campaign is seeking to elevate the issue, including through ominous images of tattooed gang members on billboards at rallies, saying they will take over neighborhoods if Harris wins. Stephen Miller, Trump\u2019s immigration adviser, is playing a significant role in the final weeks of the campaign.<\/p>\n
The Trump campaign saw some upside even to the widely criticized comment about cats and dogs, according to one adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. While some advisers grew concerned that the campaign could not find substantive proof for the allegations \u2014 they hunted for several days after Trump made them \u2014 Trump had opened the door to broader topics his team wants to raise. \u201cMaybe the dogs and cats are stupid,\u201d this person said, \u201cbut the immigrants coming in and hurting your community, that\u2019s an issue for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dave Barbe, whose company employs many of the immigrants in Charleroi, said many are authorized to live and work in the United States through U.S. programs meant to temporarily allow foreigners from certain troubled countries, including Haiti, on humanitarian grounds. The government has offered \u201ctemporary protected status\u201d to certain immigrants already in the United States, regardless of how they entered \u2014 and has also given many Haitians authorization to travel to the United States through something called \u201cparole.\u201d Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have criticized those programs: Trump promised in a recent interview to revoke temporary protected status.<\/p>\n
Trump is headed to Aurora on Friday and wanted to visit Springfield, but a trip there has not yet happened.<\/p>\n
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the former president will continue highlighting \u201cthe failed immigration system,\u201d and if returned to office will \u201csecure our border, deport those who illegally entered our country, and put an end to the chaos that illegal immigration has brought to many communities across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Charleroi, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh, some leaders blame Trump for increased discord in their community. But others welcome the attention. Council member Larry Celaschi said he contacted Trump\u2019s campaign weeks before Trump publicly mentioned the town with a simple message: \u201cWe are your narrative here in Charleroi, Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n
Celaschi invited Trump to visit and re-upped the suggestion recently.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 11 \u2014 the day after Trump told a prime-time debate audience that immigrants in Springfield were \u201ceating the cats\u201d and \u201ceating the dogs\u201d \u2014 Charleroi Borough Manager Joe Manning wrote an email to the Springfield city manager.<\/p>\n
Manning said he could empathize.<\/p>\n
Charleroi \u2014 population 4,234 in the 2020 census \u2014 is a small-scale version of Springfield: About 2,000 immigrants, including 700 Haitians, live in the area, authorities say. Many of them arrived in the past couple of years, recruited by a local food production company that needed to fill jobs in a region drained by decades of economic decline. A once-booming shopping district has given way to faded low-traffic storefronts, and just last month the operator of a major glass plant announced plans to close.<\/p>\n
Even people critical of the immigration influx have nice things to say about the newcomers. \u201cThe truth is these people are not bad people,\u201d said Sean Logue, chair of the Washington County Republican Party. \u201cThey\u2019re not committing crimes. They\u2019re not eating cats and dogs. They are hardworking. They go to church.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the rapid visible change has still drawn backlash. In interviews, some residents said they try not to go downtown now \u2014 worried about crime even though city officials say the newcomers have not caused any spike. Traffic accidents involving immigrants have amped up tensions, and public schools have had to accommodate a sudden jump in the number of students learning English as a second language.<\/p>\n
Ed Zelich, superintendent of the Charleroi Area School District, noted funding has increased along with the student population and said he\u2019s proud of how staff have worked to meet new needs. But some longtime residents worry the learning environment for their own children has suffered.<\/p>\n
A council meeting last week began with a complaint about the immigrants. The first woman to take the lectern never said exactly who she was talking about, but it was clear what she meant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey think they\u2019re better than us, and they\u2019re not,\u201d she told roughly 40 people who showed up to watch, assembled in a small room downtown just a short walk from immigrant-owned storefronts.<\/p>\n
A man got up to ask that Charleroi compile a central hub of information on the immigrants \u2014 a place for citizens to get the facts \u201cinstead of all the rumors and innuendo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat, I think, will go a long way with helping the citizens calm down,\u201d the man said. \u201cBecause right now we\u2019re at a fever pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n
A block away, at Queen\u2019s Market, Luciano Janvier was thinking about writing an essay to explain to people: \u201cWe are all immigrants.\u201d He left Haiti shortly after the assassination of the country\u2019s president in 2021 and said of Trump\u2019s comments about eating pets: \u201cIt\u2019s a kind of stigmatization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Queen\u2019s Market is owned by Augusta Goll, who is originally from Liberia and said Charleroi was \u201ca ghost town\u201d when she moved there in 2019 from Arizona.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe open businesses; we pay taxes; we\u2019re contributing to the good for the city,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Goll is a U.S. citizen who voted for Trump in 2016, she said, because she is a Republican. But his rhetoric on immigrants has repelled her. She declined to say how she will vote this fall.<\/p>\n
Her message to Trump: \u201cYou have an immigrant wife!\u201d<\/p>\n
In interviews, some Washington County voters struggled to explain why seeing immigrants around unsettled them. They just knew it gave them pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have nothing against them,\u201d said Bill Welch, who is in his 50s. \u201cIt\u2019s just \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re just \u2014 \u201d<\/p>\n
Another long pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain. I\u2019m old school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump signs dot the front yards in Charleroi, outnumbering the occasional nod to \u201cHarris-Walz.\u201d Factory workers raised as Democrats have drifted away and rallied around Trump.<\/p>\n
Valerie Urwin, 57, who lives just down the road in Speers, said she switched from Democrat to Republican just a year and a half ago but has been voting for GOP candidates for much longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur country has to come first,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can\u2019t, like, spread the wealth to other countries when you\u2019re putting us in the hole.\u201d She kept bringing up her daughter: \u201cA single mom working her butt off\u201d and making \u201cmaybe $19,000 a year\u201d at Taco Bell.<\/p>\n
Conservative media and influencers have zeroed in on Charleroi since Trump mentioned it, often fanning unfounded claims. A YouTuber with a million subscribers filmed Logue, the Republican Party chair, baselessly speculating that \u201cObama phones\u201d direct immigrants to swing states where they can help Democrats win elections.<\/p>\n
The popular account Libs of TikTok recently shared a YouTube video about Charleroi with the caption \u201cGreat job Replacement is playing out in a small PA town as migrants take native jobs at food plants\u201d \u2014 an allusion to \u201cgreat replacement theory,\u201d the baseless conspiracy theory that elites \u2014 sometimes Jews, minorities and immigrants \u2014 are attempting to replace White, native-born Americans through immigration and higher fertility rates.<\/p>\n
The conspiratorial claim has a long history of inspiring racist attacks. But a large share of voters \u2014 nearly half of Republicans, by some counts \u2014 say they are concerned there is a deliberate effort to replace Americans, and Washington County is no exception.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not a crazy idea,\u201d Logue said of a \u201cgreat replacement,\u201d which he described as an intentional effort to bring in \u201cthe young population from the Third World.\u201d In Charleroi, he said, \u201cinstead of having a neighbor as family you\u2019ve known for decades, you\u2019re getting a rental property filled with Haitians who speak a different language and have an absolutely different culture. And so, it\u2019s causing issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others residents are eager to send a different message. Trump\u2019s comments on Charleroi prompted Sarah Slates, 38, and her partner to put up a small lawn sign. \u201cHate Has No Home Here,\u201d it says below a picture of an American flag, on a block of houses scattered with tributes to the Republican nominee.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny time there\u2019s change in a community, there\u2019s going to be tension,\u201d Slates said. \u201cThe community changes, but that\u2019s not a bad thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCharleroi,\u201d she said, \u201cis still a beautiful place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dawsey reported from Washington. Meryl Kornfield and Rebecca Kiger contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
CHARLEROI, Pa. \u2014 Donald Trump was eager to tell a new horror story about this tiny Rust Belt borough where hundreds of Haitians arrived in recent years to fill factory jobs. \u201cHave you heard of it?\u201d he asked, introducing a place that would become part of his anti-immigrant closing argument. \u201cThe town is virtually bankrupt,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":10858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}