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Trump switched his focus to Haitian migrants in a small town in Pennsylvania

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

This week, former President Trump doubled down on his criticism of Haitian migrants. This time, his focus was on a small town in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania. Oliver Morrison from member station WESA reports.

OLIVER MORRISON, BYLINE: The town of Charleroi is located an hour southeast of Pittsburgh in an industrial river valley. The population has declined steadily since the 1920s by two-thirds, bottoming out at just over 4,000 residents during the last census. In the last few years, hundreds of migrants began moving to town, largely drawn by jobs in a local food packaging plant. Local officials estimate about 2,000 immigrants now live in town. A few years ago, according to U.S. census numbers, there were less than 200. Then, last week, Trump called out Charleroi. He said Haitian immigrants had made the town less beautiful and been a drain on resources. At a rally Monday, he said they're also making residents less safe.

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DONALD TRUMP: Is it a different place? Totally different place.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: They're everywhere.

TRUMP: It's what?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: It's completely different.

TRUMP: It's completely different.

MORRISON: A number of Charleroi's leaders criticized Trump's remarks. Joe Manning is the manager of Charleroi, and he says the borough's not struggling for resources, and the local police chief has reported no spikes in crime.

JOE MANNING: Nobody in the community came to complain. Nobody showed up at borough council meetings to complain or to bring anything to our attention that there were problems.

MORRISON: On a recent afternoon, Jessie Jackson just finished his lunch at a downtown McDonald's. Jackson has lived in Charleroi for all 42 years of his life and doesn't like that many of the new migrants don't speak fluent English.

JESSIE JACKSON: There's so many pouring in, just cluttering up things that used to not be so cluttered.

MORRISON: A couple of blocks away, Kevin Kuzma owns a screen printing shop, and he says Haitians have brought new businesses to his store. They have also opened up a handful of businesses of their own, he says, in formerly vacant storefronts.

KEVIN KUZMA: They have, like, a wig place right up here. They also sell clothes. There's another one down here that I think that does, like, hair cutting and stuff like that. There's a market which sells a lot of their food specifically to them.

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AUTOMATED VOICE: Hello. Welcome.

MORRISON: Marie Guerdy works in one of the new stores as a cashier. She was a kindergarten teacher in Haiti and is fluent in three languages, including Spanish. Guerdy wasn't impressed by what Trump has said about Haitians.

MARIE GUERDY: (Speaking Spanish).

MORRISON: "He says whatever he wants to say. But we don't eat what he said we eat. I eat beef, goat, fish, yes. But dogs? Never. It's very disgusting for us to eat dogs and cats."

Around the corner, Eva Ross was looking for a subsidized apartment in a neighboring town. She has lived in Charleroi for 20 years but says the new immigrants have made trips to the Dollar General frustrating.

EVA ROSS: I got to wait in line forever 'cause they can't speak English, and they're taking 15 minutes to cash out 'cause they don't know what they're doing.

MORRISON: Trump has also called out Charleroi's schools. He says new students are costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ed Zelich, the superintendent of the Charleroi School District, says his district receives more money from the state when new students enroll, and he says they use it to pay for things like new ESL teachers. Zelich says the vilification of Haitians makes his job harder.

ED ZELICH: We're proud of them. We're very proud of them. So I just like to get the misinformation - that's my biggest challenge, getting the misinformation cleared up.

MORRISON: Teachers say Haitian students who didn't know any English two years ago are now writing full paragraphs. Donna Bialon is one of those teachers. And she says some of those same students have now become leaders.

DONNA BIALON: They take it upon themselves to help, yeah, the new students. And you see them walking down the hall together, showing them where to go. That's beautiful. It's not less beautiful. It's more beautiful.

MORRISON: Caleb Fontus rents homes to Haitian migrants in Charleroi, and he says they have been among his most responsible tenants. He doesn't think Trump cares to know this truth.

CALEB FONTUS: A lot of people don't like the immigrants, so he wants to cater to them 'cause he wants their votes. But if you look at the facts, just talk to the owners. The immigrants, they're putting money in a lot of people's pockets.

MORRISON: Trump's comments are fueling disagreements on the town's social media pages, often backed by unfounded claims. But so far, Charleroi's leaders say the town is adapting, despite these divisions.

For NPR News, I'm Oliver Morrison in Charleroi, Pa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Oliver Morrison