‘Fear and anxiety’: Charleroi’s Haitian, immigrant population grapples with uncertainty
CHARLEROI – Haitians and other immigrants living in Charleroi under humanitarian programs are facing an uncertain future, fearing deportation back to the unstable conditions they fled as the Trump administration ends legal pathways for them to stay in the United States.
“I feel fear and anxiety,” said one 42-year-old Haitian refugee who arrived in the United States four years ago with his wife and three children to flee gang violence in his town, north of the capital of Port-au-Prince. “I am not happy.”
Gangs have taken over large portions of Haiti. Murders and kidnappings are rampant. Food is scarce; half of Haiti’s population faces acute hunger. And more than a million people have been displaced.
The Haitian refugee, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, came to Charleroi through Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, a program that allows migrants whose home countries are considered unsafe the right to live and work in the United States for a temporary, but extendable, period of time.
A construction worker in Haiti, he found peace in Charleroi, landing a job at a Walmart store and enrolling his children in school.
But the Trump administration has decided to end TPS, effective Aug. 3, throwing out protections for him and at least half a million immigrants from more than a dozen countries who had been shielded from deportation.
Also terminated was a humanitarian program called CHNV, which allowed more than 530,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to live and work in the U.S. for two years.
And legal status was revoked for more than 900,000 people who, since January 2023, were allowed in the country using the CBP One app. They were generally allowed to remain in the U.S. for two years with an authorization to work under a presidential authority called parole.
Also in effect is a travel ban that stops or restricts people from 19 mostly African, Asian and Caribbean countries from entering the U.S.
“I don’t know what will happen next,” the Haitian said.
‘Situation is dire’
Haiti was first granted TPS in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake that claimed an estimated 300,000 lives. Since then, the designation has been renewed multiple times due to ongoing instability.
The CHNV parole program was created in 2023.
In Charleroi, an estimated 2,000 immigrants, including a large Haitian population, have settled in the borough.
Charleroi’s immigrants, lawyers, and advocates said the mass deportation efforts have left immigrants grappling with an agonizing choice: leave the U.S. voluntarily and return home, or take their chances with the immigration system.
“This is absolutely devastating to so many in our area,” said Linda Hamilton, a clinical staff attorney and adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s Immigration Law Clinic and senior attorney for Lozano Law Firm of Texas. “These individuals came to the U.S. legally, through a rigorous process that required them to apply, pass background checks, obtain sponsors, and enter the U.S. with advance authorization. They’ve been working here lawfully, paying taxes, and integrating into the fabric of our communities. The bottom line is that the overwhelming majority of those affected – particularly Haitian TPS and CHNV parole recipients – are now at risk of losing everything: their jobs, their ability to provide for their families, and the safety and stability they’ve built here legally. The situation is dire.”
Faced with the prospect of returning to Haiti, some of Charleroi’s Haitians have opted to head to Quebec, Canada, home to a large Haitian population and where French speakers are the majority, said Jimmy Alexandre, founder and director of Haitian Resources Center in Charleroi. Others are leaving for Brazil or Mexico, or to larger cities in the U.S.
At First United Methodist Church, Pastor Randy Ord said the church’s membership had grown by about 50% over the past few years, driven by immigrants.
But church attendance has dropped because immigrants have left, and attendance at English as a Second Language classes has plummeted.
“My heart is aching. The way I see it, these people were invited and came legally to our country under different policies like TPS. They came in great numbers and have established themselves and worked hard in industries here like the frozen food industry and Amazon. Now they’re leaving,” said Ord.
“I had a gentleman from Nigeria who got up in front of the church on a Sunday before Trump’s inauguration and he said he was going to Maryland. Our church secretary got a call from another immigrant, and he said, ‘I love you, but I’m leaving; don’t tell anyone where I’m at.’
“My wife and I have made so many friends. One of the West African couples named their son after me. They left. We’re godparents to a Haitian couple’s child. They’ve left.”
Others are opting to risk detention and deportation, even as their pathways to stay in the U.S. narrow.
The Department of Homeland Security has been issuing notices revoking parole and work permits for immigrants in the U.S. under CHNV, even those who had months left before expiration.
Locally, Walmart has reportedly begun laying off employees who previously held TPS or humanitarian parole and whose work authorization is no longer considered valid, and Haitians in Charleroi said they have been laid off due to TPS and CHNV status.
Phone calls to Walmart, Amazon, and other local businesses that employ immigrant workers were not returned or officials declined to comment.
Options are limited
It is unclear what impact the loss of immigrant workers will have on Charleroi, which underwent a revitalization spurred by an influx of Haitians and other immigrants from 40 other countries starting around 2015.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2023, foreign-born workers, including the undocumented, accounted for 18.6%, or 29.1 million, of the U.S. labor force, up from 18.1% in 2022.
Lawyers said immigration authorities are encouraging immigrants to self-deport.
Charleroi Borough manager Joe Manning confirmed that there are immigrants who have left town, but said it is hard to estimate how many.
In Charleroi, immigrant advocates and organizations are working to help those impacted by the recent changes in immigration policies.
The Presbyterian Church of Charleroi has hosted pro bono legal consultation sessions with an immigration law firm to help immigrants find options.
The Rev. Betty Voigt, spiritual director and pastoral care minister at the church, has launched a weekly support group for immigrants, and the church has provided financial support.
“All the rules have changed. It’s cruel and wrong and inhumane. (President Trump) said he’d deport criminals. These are not criminals – they’re people who just want to be in a safe place, raise their families, work, and make their lives better,” said Voigt.
At First United, Ord’s wife, Mary, continues to run “Ezekiel’s Closet”, a ministry she started three years ago that provides donations of clothing and other items including cookware, towels, and children’s toys.
Sloane Davidson, founder and CEO of the nonprofit Hello Neighbor, which has an office in Charleroi to provide services to immigrants and refugees, said the suspension of programs, along with ICE raids, has frightened immigrants.
“People are scared to live their lives day-to-day in peace, regardless of their status or country of origin. I know people who are doctors and lawyers who have lived here for 30 years who are carrying citizenship documents because they don’t want to get pulled over and only have their driver’s license,” she said. “A lot of people are making choices about where they shop and go and pray because they are afraid about what might happen to them.”
Valerie Mahoney is an immigration lawyer based in Washington County. She said immigrants here on TPS status may still have options to remain in the U.S. legally, including asylum.
“But there are not a lot of legal avenues here in the U.S., and the list of options is getting shorter and shorter,” said Mahoney. “The asylum route, for example, they’ve cut the number of immigration judges, making the length of time to go through the process much longer and more difficult.”
For one Haitian immigrant who came to Charleroi in 2023, the termination of the CHNV program – and along with it, her authorization to work – has upended her life.
She is deciding whether or not to return to Haiti and reunite with her mother and her two children, ages 13 and 4. Her family cannot come to the U.S. due to the travel ban. If she leaves, it’s unlikely she can come back lawfully at some future date under the Trump administration.
The woman, who was a merchant in Haiti, had left her children in her mother’s care and worked at Fourth Street Foods, and sent money home to support them.
Hamilton, the immigration attorney, said that stripping CHNV parole and TPC status will separate mixed-status families, where one spouse is a U.S. citizen or longtime resident and the other is here on CHNV or TPC.
“This will absolutely tear families apart. We’re already seeing the painful consequences in mixed-status households,” said Hamilton. “Children who are U.S. citizens by birth will now face the very real possibility of losing a parent to deportation or relocating to a country of civil unrest or instability – a country they likely have never stepped foot in. These are not people who entered unlawfully or “snuck in.” These are individuals who used the very legal channels the government created, and now that government is closing the door on them for political reasons.”
Alexandre said Haitians have worked hard to rebuild their lives in Charleroi, and those here under the legal humanitarian programs are worried about their future.
“There are migrants here that have two jobs, pay taxes, pay bills, take care of their family, participate in the community, contribute to the economy, all that stuff,” he said. “Right now, we’re at a halt, just figuring out what this all means and what do we do next.”