Pennsylvanians rallied outside the National Constitution Center after Trump spread false claims about Haitian immigrants there last week

On the stone sidewalk in front of the National Constitution Center, a crowd of roughly 30 people gathered Thursday to wave the Haitian flag, cheer, and chant in support of the Haitian community amid increasing attacks from former President Donald Trump and allies.

As the sun beat down and cars drove by — some honking in solidarity — attendees, some Haitian immigrants or first-generation Haitian Americans, held signs that read “Haitians Make America Great! Without the Hate” and “Immigrants are Frontline Workers.”

One of the attendees was Meredith Codio Charles, 50, who came to the U.S. from Haiti when she was 18 to escape political unrest and seek better opportunities. During her time in the country, she earned her high school diploma and a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and is now involved in many industries, including running a real estate brokerage agency.

She said she is worried about the impact of Trump’s baseless claims on how children will be educated about this issue in schools given his lasting influence as a former president and presidential candidate.

“It’s like … you drop sugar on the floor. That means it’s very hard to pick it up,” said Charles, who lives in Northeast Philadelphia.

“What can we do? Not to [be] affecting the school kids and the future?” Charles said. “Because what the president said, what can we do to prevent that?”

Trump made his incendiary and xenophobic remarks about Haitian immigrants last week in the building where activists gathered Thursday, making the Constitution Center “the scene of the crime,” in the words of the Rev. Christopher Neilson, a clergy member and rally organizer.

At the Sept. 10 debate, Trump made a false claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating the town’s pets. Since then, Trump — with the help of his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, and other allies — have promoted falsehoods about the Haitian community, including its growing population in Charleroi, Pa., a small borough in Washington County.

Unfounded comments about Haitians have snowballed, gaining traction online and in real life, with some culminating in threats to schools and government buildings.

At the “Rally to Stand with the Haitian Community,” organized by New Sanctuary Movement, an interfaith immigrant justice organization, attendees listened to speakers, including Councilmembers Nicolas O’Rourke and Kendra Brooks, and others who were Haitian immigrants or first-generation Haitian Americans.

Members of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society Pennsylvania, a Jewish-founded refugee assistance organization, also attended the event to show support for the Haitian community in Philadelphia and across the country.

Ketty Pointe-Jour, a minister and Haitian community liaison for the New Sanctuary Movement, is the daughter of Haitian immigrant parents who came to the U.S. more than 70 years ago.

“Yes, this does steer anger. It does steer outrage and fear amongst the Haitian people,” Pointe-Jour said during her speech, adding, however, that the community and its allies will “move to action.”

“This anger will motivate the Haitian people to continue to pursue life, commit to education, work harder, not only for themselves, but for their families, for their children, their nation, and their future to come,” Pointe-Jour told the gathering.

But there were some signs of forgiveness at Thursday’s event.

Pastor Maurice Choizi, president of the Haitian clergy and pastor of Ebenezer Haitian Baptist Church in the city’s Feltonville section, offered reconciliation to the former president while criticizing his attacks on the community.

“I intend to forgive Trump. We have to love this man and pray for him. … He told a lot of good things to America and also a lot of bad things to America. We’re not going to fight each other for government,” Choizi said.

But he was unsure as to why the former president, who promised to be a “champion” for the Haitian community in 2016 when campaigning in Florida, would propagate these claims about the community.

“When I heard the president said that, I said, ‘What’s went wrong with him?’” Choizi, who lived in Haiti until the 1980s before coming to America, said during his speech.

On the other side of the commonwealth, Haitian immigrants in Charleroi are still bearing the brunt of Trump’s rhetoric.

During a rally in Tucson, Ariz., last week, he falsely asserted that Haitian immigrants in Charleroi were a burden on taxpayers and the school system, and bringing an increase in crime — all of which was untrue or extremely misleading, according to local Charleroi officials. The Republican state senator for Washington County has also publicly defended the Haitian immigrant community she represents against other unfounded accusations.

The small glassmaking borough in Western Pennsylvania has garnered international attention since Trump’s remark in Arizona, gaining traction among the followers of X CEO Elon Musk and conservative Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk as they promoted posts that reflect negatively and inaccurately on the town’s Haitian community.

“I see the Haitians as really symbolic and representative and the face of Black immigration,” said Neilson, who is an immigrant from Jamaica. “And so this is an affront. It’s an attack. It is racially motivated, and it’s deep-seated, and it’s significantly troubling.”