Article Summary –
Donald Trump falsely claimed a 2,000% increase in Haitian immigrants in Charleroi, PA, and accused them of eating pets. State Sen. Camera Bartolotta countered, highlighting their legal status and contributions. The town faces job losses with Anchor Hocking’s plant closure, complicating the issue.
Donald Trump falsely accused Haitian immigrants of eating pets in an Ohio town. Now, a Pennsylvania Republican lawmaker is calling out Trump’s comments about Charleroi’s immigrant community.
A Pennsylvania Republican lawmaker is responding to Donald Trump’s racist attacks against Haitian immigrants in her Western Pennsylvania district.
Last week, Trump incorrectly cited a statistic claiming that the Haitian population of Charleroi, a small borough of 4,000 people in Washington County, grew by more than 2,000%.
“What a beautiful name, but it’s not so beautiful now,” Trump said in Tucson on Friday.
He claimed, “It has experienced a 2,000% increase in the population of Haitian migrants under Kamala Harris. So Pennsylvania, remember this when you go to vote. This is a small town and all of a sudden they got thousands of people.”
Trump’s remarks followed his racist comments about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, OH during the debate with Harris, a lie that spread in local Facebook groups and was platformed by neo-Nazis and fringe online extremists in August.
Charleroi, known for glass making, is facing job losses as Anchor Hocking, producer of Corelle, Pyrex, and CorningWare, is closing its plant at the end of the year.
State Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-Washington) responded on Facebook over the weekend.
“This is a completely different scenario than other states where Biden was flying or bussing in illegals from Haiti or other countries,” Bartolotta said.
“Many Haitians in Charleroi have been here for two or three years. They escaped horrific events in Haiti, many having to hide in jungles for months or years.”
Bartolotta added, “To try to disparage these hard-working people who escaped atrocities and are here LEGALLY to work, pay taxes, and raise their children breaks my heart.”
“For those saying awful things about these Haitian immigrants, I’d ask them to consider what it might’ve been like for their own ancestors who came from another country and spoke a different language.”
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