Camera Bartolotta knew he had to say something.
A Republican senator from Pennsylvania caught wind of former President Donald Trump targeting a small town in his district. As part of his new focus on recent Haitian immigration red to America.
At a rally earlier this month, Trump noted that Charleroi, population 4,000, had experienced a significant influx of “Haitian migrants under the leadership of Vice President Kamala Harris,” “costing local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.” He argued that the city is now “virtually bankrupt” because immigrants have brought “mass crime to the city and everywhere around it”.
Right-wing influencers soon started skydivingthe immigrant hopes to document evidence of the conspiracy and expose the divisions in the city. Rumors that migrant workers were being “bussed in” quickly spread online.
So Bartolotta turned to social media. on Facebook, he said recent immigrants to his community “WORK LEGALLY, pay taxes, raise children and be part of society, etc.” At X, he pushed back against videos that claimed migrants were being brought in by bus. begging the right-wing account LibsOfTikTok “Please check the facts before posting information [that] endangers the safety of good, hard-working people.”
In an interview with NBC News, Bartolotta said he could not allow those comments to go unchecked.
“I know the story of my neighborhood and I know the plight that many of these people are fleeing. I know what the children are going through,” he said. “I felt it was necessary to see how the issue was misrepresented and how these individuals were maligned, threatened and completely misunderstood. [to speak out]because I represent everyone in my district, even those who are there on work visas and are doing their best to raise their families.”
“I wanted to clear the air,” he said. “I think I poured gasoline on the fire. Who knows? But I just wanted to set the record straight.”
Bartolotta is not alone among Republicans fighting these stories. About 230 miles west of Charleroi, along Interstate 70, Springfield, Ohio Mayor Rob Rue and Clark County Commission President Melanie Flax Wilt were forced back. exposed rumours Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-OhioSpread about Haitian immigrants eats residents’ pets.
Although these local Republicans have not named Trump and Vance directly responsible. they tried to oppose The men at the head of the party ticket spread the idea that Springfield was being overrun and broken up by newcomers. They have prompted a softening of the rhetoric as the city deals with a a series of bomb threats at local schools.
The episode has become a flashpoint in an election where immigration is a key issue. Trump railed against the recent wave of immigration to those cities in presidential debates, rallies and online, while Vance focused more on Springfield.
The pushback by local officials is reminiscent of the 2020 election results in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, where Republican election administrators had to fight Trump’s stolen election fraud.
Meanwhile, Republican officials in red America’s municipalities are now on par with Democratic officials in big cities, who have been responding for years when Trump has tried to nationalize issues in their areas.
Another layer of this struggle goes back to Trump’s 2016 primary race. A touchstone of the former president’s campaigns has been revitalizing backward small-town America — places like Springfield and Charleroi — that have watched their populations dwindle and dwindle for decades. leaving jobs.
New waves of immigration to these cities have been instrumental in reversing some of those trends — and local GOP officials will point to that fact when defending the newcomers.
“Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen 8,500 jobs come here,” Rue told NBC News. “We see homes coming online over the next five years, about 2,000 homes. Those are things to be proud of for a city like ours, and those are the things we need to talk about.”
“Maybe you should switch parties”
The political backgrounds of Charleroi and Springfield could not be more similar. Trump won Washington County, Pennsylvania, where Charleroi lives. 22 points in 2020. In Clark County, Ohio, he that year he won by 23 points. Charleroi is about an hour from Pittsburgh. Springfield is about an hour from Columbus and about 40 minutes from Dayton.
in Charleroiaccording to estimates, several hundred to 2,000 Haitian immigrants have settled there in recent years (immigrants from other nationalities have also settled in the area in the last decade).
In Springfield, which is significantly larger than Charleroi, with a population of about 60,000, the number is about 12,000 to 15,000, many of whom could come to America under the federal humanitarian program for migrants. Others have tourist visas and green cards, though Vance said at a recent rally that he still considers them “illegal” because he doesn’t believe the programs they come from are legitimate.
Local officials in both Charleroi and Springfield highlighted problems caused by the wave of immigration — concerns about dangerous driving, the need to hire interpreters in local schools, the language barrier and strain on local resources. But they, as well as local business leaders, have made it clear that, contrary to what the GOP presidential ticket says, new immigrants contribute positively to the local economy, increase the tax base and do not add to the increase in crime.
“You may never see me again, but that’s okay,” Trump said he said announced at a rally in Springfield last week that he would be retiring from the campaign. “What happened to Trump? “Well, he never left Springfield.”
Rue and Linen Pale I didn’t say whether or not they will support Trump in the fall. In an interview with NBC News, Rue noted that although he is a registered Republican, he was tapped for a nonpartisan role and “definitely doesn’t get too involved in partisan political conversations.” While he received support from constituents for how he handled the episode, Rue said he also heard concerns “because I’m a Republican.”
Laura Rosenberger, executive chairwoman of the Clark County Republican Party, said that although Rue votes Republican, she is not involved in strengthening the local party. He expressed serious concern that both Rue and Flax Wilt would not come out publicly and support the party’s standard bearer. He added that Trump should go somewhere other than Springfield when he visits Clark County.
“If you’re a Republican and you’re openly admitting to the media that you can’t decide whether you’re going to vote for President Donald Trump, then maybe you should switch parties.” he said. “It sends a divisive message and that’s not good for the Republican brand. They should take part in supporting Trump in this issue.”
On Friday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Springfield-born Republican, stepped up a few notches from the GOP retreat. He is the author of “New York Times” publication trying to counter the Trump and Vance narrative about the city. As a “supporter” of the ticket, he said he was “saddened that they and others continue to repeat claims that are unsubstantiated and denigrate legal immigrants living in Springfield.”
“This rhetoric hurts the city and its people and hurts those who spend their lives there,” he said. (Vance said at an event Saturday, “DeWine endorsed the Trump-Vance ticket, and we’re a big tent party, and we’re going to face people who disagree, and that’s fine.”)
‘It’s hard to understand what the truth is when you’re not here’
Back in Charleroi, Bartolotta went public about his support for the former president and said he did not blame him for the national scrutiny the city faced. Bartolotta after a suicide attempt at a July rally in nearby Butler, Pennsylvania Changed profile picture on X The iconic shot of Trump raising his fist.
He plans to meet with Trump on Monday during a visit to Western Pennsylvaniahe said he would be “happy to share with him [to] please come to Charleroi so we can show you these beautiful people because it’s a different story everywhere.”
“Tensions are high everywhere and some people are reading all kinds of things coming at them from all kinds of different angles,” he said. “It is very difficult to understand what the truth is when you are not here. So I hope people will take a break and, you know, tone down the vitriol.
Bartolotta stressed that the immigrants in Charleroi do not cross the border with Mexico illegally, saying that many of them came to the city because of the efforts of a large factory owner who is struggling to find workers for a facility he hopes to keep for a long time. open locally. Currently, The city gathers in hopes of preventing it a factory separate from the city after recently announcing its closure.
“Let me be very clear: No one in Washington County is saying anything negative about Haitians,” Washington State GOP Chairman Sean Logue said. “We have no negative opinion about them at all. “They actually have a good reputation for going to church and being hardworking.”
But he said immigration has outstripped the city’s ability to keep up with the influx and blamed state and federal Democratic leaders for not providing additional resources and bolstering budgets. Logue expects Trump to visit the city soon. Brian Hughes, Trump’s top adviser, declined to say whether such a trip was ready.
Asked about Bartolotta’s advocacy, Logue said local residents think he’s a great asset “representing our constituents well.”
Charleroi County Manager Joe Manning, known as an independent, agreed with Logue about Bartolotta. But he disagreed with the city’s view that the federal government should intervene immediately.
“Finance for what?” Manning said. “There is no line item in my budget that says Haitian clothing, Haitian living. I mean, they are the people who live here and work here. I don’t do anything special for them like I do for anyone else. They go to work, they pay their bills, they are here legally.”
One point Bartolotta wanted to make: A local store owner with Trump gear for sale said The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette He said some local immigrants stopped inside to say they supported the former president’s campaign. “Absolutely,” he said when asked if Charleroi provided a road map for how to revitalize other small towns.
“We’re losing population like crazy in Southwestern Pennsylvania,” he said. “So if we want to bring back the people who go to work, keep our factories open, keep our manufacturing open, then we have to be able to get people. [who can] go and work in our factories, stores and stuff. Well, that’s one way to keep these businesses open.”
As for Trump’s focus, especially since Pennsylvania looks like a state that could swing the entire election, Bartolotta said he believes the party should focus on lowering inflation and creating jobs.
“It’s not just this distraction where it’s a whistling kettle,” he said. “Take it from the fire. Focus on key issues that affect everyone.”
In Springfield, Rue said he never anticipated the attention he would receive from the top of his party’s presidential ticket when he won the mayoral race in November.
“I’m not so sure I would run if it was on the list,” he said. “I don’t know who the smart ones will be.”