Charleroi, Pennsylvania, Councilman Larry Celaschi says former President Joe Biden’s administration dumping thousands of Haitian migrants in his small community has spurred a crisis of strained public resources as the non-English speakers cause daily car crashes and rack up unpaid ambulance bills.
This week, Celaschi testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee on the impact that Biden’s mass migration agenda has had on the small town of Charleroi, which had a population of about 4,000 residents before being forced to absorb 2,000 to 3,000 mostly Haitian migrants from 2021 to 2024.
The results, Celaschi testified, have been disastrous for the small community as car crashes occur daily because of non-English speaking drivers, ambulance resources are drained, schools are overcrowded, and quality of life declines.
“Federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations placed individuals into our housing, schools, and neighborhoods without providing proportional investments in policing, emergency medical services, housing inspections, translation services, healthcare capacity, or infrastructure,” Celaschi’s written testimony states:
Charleroi’s police department, volunteer fire department, ambulance service, and code enforcement office have all experienced a significant increase in service calls. Many of these calls involve language barriers, overcrowded housing conditions, and unfamiliarity with local laws and traffic regulations. [Emphasis added]
Charleroi does not have a paid dedicated interpreter or translation service. Our first responders now spend significantly more time on each call, stretching limited resources and increasing response times for everyone in the community. [Emphasis added]
Our ambulance service is currently carrying more than $250,000 in uncollectible debt tied to the migrant emergency calls. For a small nonprofit service, this level of uncompensated care is unsustainable and places the entire community at risk. Out volunteer fire department is feeling the brunt of the financial street [sic] the immigrant community has placed on their shoe-string budget. [Emphasis added]
In addition, Celaschi said Charleroi’s code enforcement office is “overwhelmed by unsafe and overcrowded rental properties, some housing double or triple their intended occupancy.”
Celaschi said Charleroi locals are the victims of Biden’s migration scheme.
“Let me be clear: The individuals arriving in Charleroi are human beings. But local residents are human beings as well, and they are tax-paying American citizens who have done nothing wrong and who are bearing the consequences of the Biden administration’s immigration policies,” Celaschi said:
It makes our community very angry that our town has experienced frequent car crashes caused by the migrant drivers. This has wrecked-havoc [sic] on the non-at fault parties who had to pay the price. Vehicles driven by unlicensed, uninsured, and non-English speaking drivers are involved in daily collisions on narrow residential streets, cars overturning, plowing into homes, businesses and destroying personal property. [Emphasis added]
Even the current and former Mayors own property has been damaged under these circumstances. This is reality in Charleroi folks, where the posted speed-limit in Charleroi is 25 mph or less. Families are afraid in their own neighborhoods. Seniors are frightened to walk outside. [Emphasis added]
Caleschi said he wants to see Congress require the federal government to consult with local communities before resettling thousands of migrants in their towns and greatly limit such resettlement to migrant populations that such a community can support.
Likewise, Caleschi suggested, the federal government ought to require transparency and oversight of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) facilitating migrant resettlement in local communities.
“What happened in Charleroi should not be repeated elsewhere,” Caleschi told Congress.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.
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