Haitian community in Charleroi facing uncertain future as U.S. aims to revoke legal status of migrants
An executive order that revokes the legal status of a half-million people from Haiti and Latin America could have a significant impact on the Washington County community of Charleroi, where the majority of the city's roughly 1,000 immigrants are from Haiti.
The explosive population growth the city has seen was primarily caused by the Biden-era CHNV and Temporary Protected Status designation programs that are ending, said Joseph Patrick Murphy, an immigration attorney who often works with Haitian immigrants in Charleroi. He says the Trump executive order is a recipe for disaster in Charleroi.
Some community members have argued the city has seen a turnaround for the best due to the influx of immigrants while others have argued the opposite.
KDKA-TV met Murphy inside a Charleroi restaurant, where he was speaking with an immigrant from Haiti who had already faced a major obstacle in his life.
"He was a pastor, and he found himself being terrorized by Haitian gangs who are notoriously hostile to Christianity," Murphy said.
He came to Murphy after hearing about the executive order, hoping he could get help to remain in the country legally.
"He's terrified," Murphy said, explaining the man has until August when his legal status, with the half-million other Haitians, will expire. Their Temporary Protected Status designation had been set to run until February. Those with the protection rely on the government extending it when it expires to remain legal under the same program.
With the program expiring early, many immigrants are worried about losing their legal status and work permits, he said.
"They are going to have to find some other way of being legal, go home, or try and stay under the radar and kind of just live in the shadows," Murphy said, explaining many are scrambling.
As for the town, Murphy said because of the executive order, they could lose 800 to 1,000 workers.
"If they all left, you have 800 or 1,000 rents that stop being paid. You have 800 or 1,000 gas tanks that aren't being filled, groceries that aren't being bought, it will be rough on this town economically," Murphy said. "I suspect that there will be pain here in this town."
Ashley Duff, the chairperson of the Washington County Republican Party, said pain was already felt.
"The residents didn't ask to have all of the immigrants put in this town," Duff said. "And I feel like with Secretary Noem's new directive, they're going to feel a lot of relief."
From what she's heard, the immigrants in the community were loosely vetted and it undercut American workers.
She lives near Charleroi and says the city can weather the loss of immigrants.
"We believe that the people of Charleroi are strong, resilient people and that they're going to want to see their community thrive, and they're going to be able to come back from any hurt that may be felt," Duff said.
Not all immigrants would have to leave. About one-third of them should be able to apply for asylum, including the man KDKA-TV saw Murphy working with.
"I think he's got a winner on his hands," Murphy said.
Critics of the Temporary Protected Status program have argued its renewal has effectively become automatic over the years.
Murphy said that's an open secret for programs like it and that many immigrants expected it would be extended as it has been in the past.
"What they normally do is they stop accepting new members, and then maybe they'll extend it for shorter periods of time," Murphy said. "But when people marry, citizens go home. Some people die, and these programs normally die in natural death."
He added Charleroi has handled the influx of immigrants better than anywhere else he's worked.
