HAVEN ON EARTH
People in Erie voted for Trump. They also welcome hundreds of refugees every year
ERIE, Pa. — After taking his oath of citizenship late last year, Fidel Bahati walked straight out of the Erie federal courthouse and into the offices of the Army Reserves to enlist. “God bless America. I am an American now, and I will now serve my country who has provided me so much opportunity to better myself,” he said.
Bahati, who arrived in this northwestern Pennsylvania city seven years ago after spending nearly five years in a refugee camp in Kenya, will now serve the Army part-time while studying for a degree in electrical and computer-engineering technology at Penn State’s Behrend campus. “It’s a double major. It is hard. My first semester I had a 4.0, my second semester the same, this time I might only get a 3.9,” he said.
His dream? “Work at General Electric of course,” he said of the company that has been Erie’s largest employer for over 100 years.
Bahati’s work ethic, drive to succeed, connection to community and willingness to assimilate and serve his country are all linked to the virtues of American exceptionalism. Seven years ago he spoke not a word of English. Born in the Congo, his family was taken by rebels and disappeared before his eyes. He had never left Africa, rode on a plane, been to a foreign country or even seen a snowflake until he moved to Erie in 2010 when he was 21, chosen by a local resettlement program.
Last week there were snowflakes piled nearly six feet high all around him. “Erie is my hometown now. Many people try to encourage me to go to big cities like New York, but I don’t want to. I have roots here, the people here are family, they have treated me well,” he said, beaming with pride.
Erie County seems like a contradiction to many outsiders. It voted by 17 percentage points for Barack Obama in 2012 and then turned around four years later and supported Donald Trump in 2016. It’s also home to one of the largest refugee populations in Pennsylvania, which took in 3,219 refugees in 2016 — ranking ninth among all states in the union.
“In 2016 we placed nearly 700 hundred Syrian refugees in Erie,” said Ed Grode, still energetic at 70. “They come from places like Kenya, Bosnia, the Congo and Iraq. Refugees now make up roughly 20 percent of the city’s population of 100,000.”
For a decade, Grode sat on the board of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), a national nonprofit that partners with the State Department to resettle refugees. Today he is still intensely involved in helping those fleeing tribal warfare, political upheaval or religious persecution in their native nations — people like Bahati.
“Everyone finds a job once they settle here. Some find two or three,” Grode said.
Frank Victor employs several refugees who have settled here and worked hard to earn their citizenship. He also voted for Trump, and he is very happy with his presidency.
He smiles at the notion that some folks might consider this an inconsistency. “It’s really not a surprise to me that people still don’t understand who a Trump voter really is.”
Victor is chairman of the board at Fralo, a successful manufacturing company that employs 70 workers — about 20 percent of whom are refugees or former refugees. “Incredibly hard workers, proud to work, proud to be here, proud to earn their citizenship,” is how Victor describes this part of his workforce.
The Trump resistance assumes that anyone who is cautious about immigration cannot also be welcoming to refugees. They figure that anyone who votes for Trump must hate outsiders.
Victor has no problem with bringing refugees to the country — or his city or company — but thinks there should be a balance. “Limits are important,” he said. “You want to make sure there’s also not a drain on the economy and services, [but] that’s never been the case here in Erie. And you want to do whatever you can as a person to help people from other countries that have faced war or religious prosecution or unthinkable terror. That kind of stewardship . . . is a part of who we are as Americans.”
Victor recently attended the citizenship ceremony for the woman who cleans his house and her husband, both of whom are from Bosnia. “He has a trucking company, and they’re very successful. They have a nice big house with a swimming pool, and their kids are assimilating into society, and I cannot accurately explain to you how happy they are to be here,” he said.
Ferki Ferati can. After forming a relationship with the International Institute of Erie, he moved to the city from Kosovo in 2010 and has since gained a bachelor’s in intelligence studies and a masters in public administration.
Last summer he became president of Jefferson Educational Society, the prestigious think tank that aims to promote civic enlightenment and community progress for the region.
Sitting in his office, located in a former synagogue, Ferati explains how he knows he has truly made it in his new homeland. “I am a Muslim, working in a Jewish synagogue, in a majority Catholic town, with much of my education coming through Catholic schools, who is married to an Albanian Russian.
“You know what I think about that? Two words. It’s American, very American.”