The New Republic's Greg Sargent recently reached out to Charleroi Borough Manager Joe Manning to ask him about some of former President Donald Trump's claims about Haitian immigrants in his town of Charleroi, Pennsylvania.
It turns out that some of Trump's claims about immigrants in the town were so ludicrous that Manning at one point "burst out laughing" while trying to debunk them.
In particular, Manning was amused by Trump's claim that Charleroi, a town of just 4,000 people, "has seen a 2,000 percent increase in the population" thanks to Haitian immigrants.
In reality, said Manning, the number of Haitians living in the town is "between 700 and 800" and a 2,000 percent increase in population would have put the town's total population closer to 100,000.
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Additionally, Manning debunked Trump's claims that the Haitian immigrants were stealing jobs from Americans.
"Many of the Haitians work at a local packaging plant whose owner could not find workers, and went to an employment agency for help," writes Sargent. "That agency got Haitians to come work in the borough."
Manning emphasized that the plant owner is still looking for more workers and that the Haitians who have come to work there "ain't taking anybody's jobs."
What's more, said Manning, the Haitian immigrants have helped revitalize the town as "they have occupied places that were vacant for years because a lot of people moved out of here."
