Former President Donald J. Trump vilified the migrant population of a small western Pennsylvania industrial town during a rally in the swing state on Monday, likening a group of Haitians who have made it their home to those in Springfield, Ohio, another place that was not well-known until he put it onto the political map.
“Has your beautiful town changed?” Mr. Trump asked, amplifying remarks he has previously made about Charleroi while speaking at a rally in Indiana, Pa., about 50 miles away. “It’s composed of lawless gangs.”
His debunked claims about Haitian migrants stealing and eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio, helped stir a firestorm over immigration in that community, which has dealt with bomb threats and evacuations after Mr. Trump made his comments.
Charleroi, a borough of about 4,000 people, has attracted its own growing community of Haitians, many of whom came to the United States legally through a federal humanitarian aid program for migrants.
Some local leaders have become frustrated by misinformation about Charleroi’s migrant population. Camera Bartolotta, a Republican state senator who represents the town, recently pushed back against the notion that Haitian migrants were stealing jobs.
Mr. Trump engaged in a back-and-forth with rally-goers who yelled out to him about Charleroi, asking them if the town has changed. Several attendees shouted back: “they’re everywhere!” and “it’s horrible!”
He has previously said that the borough has become “not so beautiful” because of migrants who are straining the municipal government’s resources.
“They are here legally,” Ms. Bartolotta wrote in a post on X about Haitian migrants. “Check the facts before posting information the jeopardizes the safety of good, hard-working people.”
Joe Manning, the borough manager, told WESA, the local NPR station, that he worried his town would turn into the next Springfield, Ohio.
“You have to get them the hell out,” Mr. Trump said about migrants in Springfield at his rally on Monday.
The crowd responded with chants of “send them back!”
Some Haitians in Springfield were left shaken after Mr. Trump aired his concerns about the city at the presidential debate in early September.
Mr. Trump has also repeatedly claimed that Venezuelan migrants in Aurora, Colo., brandished guns and took over an apartment complex there, an exaggerated claim.
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