Charleroi’s immigrant liaison: Haitians feel scared and unwelcome

Haitian immigrant Rony Jean Lherisson said he is here legally, pays taxes and feels many like him are being treated unfairly.

Getro Bernabe is an immigrant liaison in Charleroi.

It’s been a hectic week for him and others who are part of the borough’s Haitian community.

A former Haitian Coast Guard officer and liaison to the U.S. Embassy in the Caribbean, Bernabe was hired as part of the Neighborhood Partnership Program for the newly created role in 2023.

For nearly two years now, Bernabe has served as a vital resource in the community as the immigrant liaison to the growing Haitian population, which is living, working and opening businesses in the borough.

While it may seem like breaking news because of all of the national media attention sparked by former President Donald Trump’s remarks, Charleroi’s immigrant population did not happen overnight.

The borough has around 2,000 immigrant residents, but only between 600-700 of them are Haitian, and many of them have called the borough home for years.

Bernabe said up until last week, Haitian members of the community were living normal lives. They are now scared and feel unwelcome.

“Everyone within the Haitian community in Charleroi is feeling stressed out,” Bernabe said. “They don’t feel welcome right now. Up until this, everything was normal. You know they sometimes IMMIGRANTS •A2

“ It was OK to be here so far…my American neighbors are friendly, they say hello, they wave back when I wave at them. But since y’all claiming that we’re eating your dogs, cats, bats and rats and started threatening us. The only thing I ever did wrong in my entire life was ‘being Haitian.’”

RONY JEAN LHERISSON

LEGAL IMMIGRANT LIVING IN CHARLEROI need help, or direction, but other than that everything was OK and they were trying to live normally.”

He said the remarks made by Trump specifically referenced Haitians, which is bringing a lot of attention, but the borough has residents from dozens of different countries.

“We have Chinese, Indonesian, Zambia, Nigeria, Liberia, Venezuela, Peru, Chili and Mexico,” he said. “Right now, for whatever reason, the focus is on Haitian.”

Bernabe said it has caused a sense of unease.

“They don’t feel safe now,” he said. “They don’t know if it is safe to stay here.”

One local immigrant, after days of seeing various remarks on social media, wanted to share his story with the community.

Rony Jean Lherisson posted recently in one of the Charleroi groups on Facebook.

“I can’t believe you underestimate your government like that. Because a lot of y’all think that the government just opened the border and we all came, got free rent, free everything but you’re wrong.”

Lherisson said there are immigrants who use government assistance, and he explained how and why from his own personal experience.

“Yes. a lot of us got government assistance when we came, me for example, I was receiving $261 on my food stamp card every month, you tell me if $261 can feed you for a month, but it was good, it helped. But once you get a job and start getting money you will no longer receive any benefits. I had mine for 2 and a half months…first of all I think the reason why programs like the humanitarian parole exists because there are so many jobs that you Americans won’t do but us immigrants are doing.”

His first job was at Fourth Street BBQ, where most of the employees are legal immigrants.

“I’m here under the humanitarian program, immigrants living rent free is a lie, except for those in New York living in shelters and stuff like that. ….to get approved on this program, your sponsor, the person that filed the application for you, gotta prove to the government that they can really host you before you get on your feet, they gotta give their address so the government can make sure the person they applied for will have a place to live, secondly they gotta prove to the government that they make enough money to host you, proof of income and stuff like that, SSN, background check and all that.

“But now, let’s start by the plane tickets, all those airlines companies are American. My ticket cost me $639. Landed in JFK, New York and then had to drive to come to PA (Charleroi). I got a travel authorization delivered by the U.S. government, I got I-94, I got my passport stamped once I stepped inside the airport, I got my fingerprints and picture taken by the immigration so how am I an illegal? …It ain’t got (nothing) to do with the Mexican border, do the math because hundreds of thousands of Haitians got approved, I think that’s good for your economy.”

He spoke about how immigrants begin to work once they arrive.

“Y’all as American(s) I don’t think you need a work card or work permit to get a job but us immigrants we do need a work card to get a job and it costs $470 to apply for it, to file for TPS, money, to file for a work card, money and it has to be renewed when expires for the same amount,” he said. “Now once I got a job, I started paying taxes just like you, I had to leave my cousin’s house, rent my own apartment, so now I pay bills just like y’all, I got car payments every two weeks just like many of y’all.”

He also addressed concerns about driver’s licenses.

“Now, for the bad drivers y’all be complaining about, these Haitians never really passed there driving test here (in) PA, they keep failing. Many of them don’t have a PA drivers license, they go to Florida instead to get their license and come back. Maybe it’s a lot easier to get a driver’s license in Florida than here. I got mine in Uniontown, it was a cup of tea. I’ve (been) driving semi-trucks in Haiti for five years.”

He said he can’t say that there aren’t immigrants who don’t follow rules, but that doesn’t apply to everyone.

“I’m aware of the problem, some Haitians really be acting bad and weird, some are less educated than others,” he said. “They don’t speak English, they been living here for years and still can’t get their self together. I been living here for eight months now. My first job was Fourth Street Foods, I worked two Amazon jobs as a delivery driver, now I’m still with Amazon in a warehouse (fulfillment center) in New Stanton, I paid about $372 in taxes last week, maybe that’s how the government takes back its assistance money.”

Until recently, he said there hasn’t been much of a problem.

“It was OK to be here so far, my American neighbors are friendly, they say hello, they wave back when I wave at them,” he said. “But since y’all claiming that we’re eating your dogs, cats, bats and rats and started threatening us. The only thing I ever did wrong in my entire life was ‘being Haitian.’” He wants to go back home. “I dream about nothing but stacking some money, buy a truck, send it to Haiti and go back to Haiti and start my own trucking business there,” he said. “I’m only here for two years by the way, I’d go back home anyway in 2026, but it’ll be sooner.”

Many residents commented, thanking him for sharing his story and apologizing for what he and others are experiencing.

Jennifer Seaton works in the borough and thanked him for his transparency.

“I am so glad you posted,” she said. “Our community needs to hear your story and others! I work for an optometrist ( glasses) and we wait on many hard working people. The language barrier is very hard but we use translation apps to get through it.

“My daughter is living in Japan and has the same language barrier struggles. It is very hard when no one takes the time to translate Japanese to English. It isn’t easy going to another country.”

Bernabe said a lot of Haitian residents feel the same way right now.

“They don’t feel welcome,” he said. “They all came here legally to work, for a better life. To support their families and to be safe, but they don’t feel that right now. They are nice people, friendly people. They want to work and live together in harmony, and we hope that can happen despite what is going on right now.”