CALIFORNIA, Pa. -- Almost overnight they arrived, close to 100 Romanian immigrants who are members of a minority group called Roma, to take up residence in this small town along the Monongahela River.

If you've heard of California, it's probably because of the university. That's at one end of town, with brick buildings and bright colors. The rest of the town is filled with homes and businesses that are more time-worn, many of them built to house steelworkers and coal miners before those industries evaporated. Now they are home to their children, and grandchildren.

With a population of just about 6,700, it's a place where everyone knows everyone. But the presence of the newcomers, who arrived in May, seems to be tearing apart the bonds that have been built over generations.

"This is turning lifelong friends against each other," said Rebecca Daniels, who has lived in California her entire life. "I don't know if this can be fixed."

Immigrants took up residence in vacant, off-campus student housing -- particularly one rustic-looking apartment building where this week small, dark-haired children ran and played. Men in crisp polo shirts or clean, white button downs sat around tables and talked and smoked. Women, in long dresses, some wearing traditional Muslim head dressings, did the same, huddled on a long, splintered porch, apart from the men.

Some in California, many descended from immigrants, say they want to welcome their new neighbors and help them become a part of the community.

But others say the Roma -- sometimes referred to as gypsies --are different than the Italian Americans who came to town a handful of generations ago. Neighbors say - and loudly proclaimed at a recent borough council meeting - that the Roma refuse to assimilate, or even communicate, and have been wreaking havoc since their unexpected arrival.

They tell stories of Roma butchering chickens and defecating in public. Those stories recently gained attention when they were repeated on national television by Tucker Carlson, host of Fox News show "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

"Gypsies" are settled in a small Pennsylvania town... and locals complain of them going to toilet in the street and beheading chickens. pic.twitter.com/YFpe1mbW1d — Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 18, 2017

The extent to which such events have actually occurred is up for debate, depending on who in town you ask.

So, what's really going on in California? Borough officials won't talk about it.

Neither will the Roma.

New visitors from an old place

It's difficult to tell how and when this group of Roma got to the United States, but officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement say there are 97 of them living in California.

They are here unlawfully, officials say, and are part of ICE's Alternative to Detention Program, which allows them to remain in the community as they await court hearings and final orders to stay or to be deported back to Romania.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services could not confirm that the Roma are seeking asylum since those applications are confidential, but one Roma who briefly spoke with PennLive said that is why they are here - seeking asylum from persecution in their home country, something these nomadic people have suffered across Europe for decades, even centuries.

She said her name is Dochia.

She appeared to be in her late 20s and drank Coca Cola out of a wine glass as she smoked a cigarette. She was surrounded by several older women and spoke on the condition that no photos would be taken. During the interview Wednesday evening, a half-dozen children ran around the yard, shouting and playing.

That's why she came to the United States, she said. For the children.

"In my country, no help for kids," Dochia said. "I want to make good life in America with kids."

When she mentioned her home country, an older woman sitting next to her chimed in.

"Romania criminal," she said.

California, on the other hand, is a much better place, Dochia said. It's kind and welcoming, she said. And safe.

"This city is good," Dochia said. "Good people in California."

And many in California want to help. But they are having trouble getting through not only a language barrier, but also the cultural barrier of a people who tend to keep to themselves.

It has been tough getting to know the Roma, say the locals, even those who say they still want to help.

"This is what we know is right in our hearts," said lifelong resident Rosemary Capanna.

A helping hand

When Capanna's grandparents came here from Italy, they were not welcomed at first. Many immigrants - Italian, eastern European - lived on the outskirts of town and were considered to be outsiders, she said.

But as the generations grew up together, they gradually accepted one another, becoming neighbors and friends. And Capanna's grandparents would likely be proud to know that she is now the town's Democratic candidate for mayor.

"They weren't refugees, but they faced something similar," Capanna said of her grandparents. "Assimilation does not happen overnight."

This week, she and attorney Lisa Buday, who spoke at a recent borough council meeting to ask her neighbors to be supportive of the Roma, agreed to talk about what has been going on in their town.

"I don't agree with lawlessness; however, we don't know who they are," Buday said about the Roma. The people of California need to start building relationships with the Roma, and learn more about them in order to create that bond of community, she said. That's what will help the community overcome the problems it's facing.

Buday thinks that many of those problems referred to by Tucker Carlson have been exaggerated.

An incident in which a chicken was killed happened early on and can be attributed to cultural differences, she said. And the public defecation? She said she understands that was a one-time thing, adding that it was simply a case involving a little boy who couldn't make it home in time.

She has had no problems with the Roma. Buday says "hello" when she sees them on the street, and she allows the children to come into her law firm's lobby to play with Oliver, the office cat.

"They're a community of people and we're trying to figure out how best to get to know them," Buday said.

She and Capanna are not sure why there has been such a public outcry against the Roma. They speculate that it's because the Roma are so visible, spending most evenings sitting on their porches.

"Maybe we should all sit on our porches and hang out," Buday said. "What they do is not all that removed from what our immigrant families did 50 years ago."

"From my perspective, people fear what they don't understand," Capanna said. "I don't know if it's fear or a lack of understanding."

Capanna loves her town and knows its residents can come around to accept their new neighbors.

It's also a town the Roma say they love. Dochia said she hopes she is granted asylum so her family can stay here, where she says the people have been kind.

"No problem with the American people," she said, motioning toward the yard where her children played. "Everything OK. See? Kids playing."

The problem, others in town say, is that the Roma have not returned the favor.

'Pure havoc'

Pam Duricic is another lifelong California resident, and earlier this month, she was a vocal part of the group that showed up at a borough council meeting. They had questions, and they wanted to report the problems they have seen.

"Since they've been here, it's nothing but pure havoc," Duricic told PennLive on Wednesday.

Her neighbor, Teresa Dearinger, agreed, saying one day in May, the college students left for the summer, and all of a sudden, the Roma showed up.

"It was a shock to our community," Dearinger said.

The women say California is a quaint, family-oriented place. Dearinger moved here to raise her three children in this environment.

"We have always been a welcoming, open community," Duricic said. "We have a small university, a lot of diversity. The crime rate is next to nothing, normally. We never had any problems. Until now."

Since she spoke out at the borough council meeting, Duricic said she and her neighbors have been unfairly portrayed as closed minded and racist. That is not the case, she said, and the race of the Roma is not the issue at all.

"It's people who are not following our laws and rules," Dearinger said.

She and Duricic talked of cars speeding through the streets, traffic accidents, shoplifting attempts at Dollar General, trash strewn about yards. Some incidents they say they witnessed themselves; some they heard about from neighbors and friends.

Based on that, they believe the problems are greater than an isolated incident or two of a chicken being beheaded.

Rebecca Daniels' son took a video of some Roma slaughtering a chicken and a turkey in the Roma's yard.

And the defecation? That was more than just one child, Duricic added.

"These were not children. They were grown men, dropping their pants," she said.

Daniels said her son's car was also damaged by a Roma neighbor who sped backwards into it. The insurance company told her the car was rental from Florida - one that had been missing for so long the rental company stopped paying the insurance on it, she said.

There were numerous thefts, they say, including Dearinger's children's toys being stolen from her porch.

As the group was advised to do at the council meeting, they have been calling the police and documenting what they see, including an incident Tuesday night.

Duricic and Dearinger said a group of Roma men in an apartment building near their homes had been drinking all day. They got loud and boisterous and the children threw empty beer bottles into the street to watch them roll downhill.

When an argument broke out, one of the men struck one of the women, they say. Dearinger said she has since been subpoenaed by police to testify about this.

Though the police are investigating this case, and others, there are still lots of calls and complaints that go unanswered, Duricic said. But she really can't blame the officers.

"The police department was blindsided by this," Duricic said. "They weren't prepared."

Police Chief Richard Encapera is the only officer authorized to speak to the media, and he was on vacation this week. Borough administrator Richard Martin would not talk to PennLive. Borough council president Patsy Alfano and Mayor Walter Weld Jr. did not return phone calls for comment.

That's part of the problem, from Duricic's perspective. She said she is getting few answers from her town officials, many of whom are lifelong friends. Even after the meeting, she walked away with just as many unanswered questions. How long will the Roma be here? Will the children go to school in California? Will they face the same penalties for breaking the law as the residents? Is ICE monitoring them?

She and some friends have tried to reach out to the Roma, saying hello, trying to start conversations. But the Roma don't respond and don't seem to want that, she said.

And in the meantime, among the locals, lifelong friendships have crumbled. She said there are people she has known her entire life who no longer speak to her. She receives nasty comments on Facebook.

"We all grew up in school together, attended town functions together, but now you are seeing that divide," she said. "Our small town that we all loved for years and chose to stay here and raise our children is no longer. It all went up in smoke."

A few blocks away, sitting on her porch with the other Roma women, Dochia said she was unaware of such problems in this town that has treated her so well.

When asked about the butchering of chickens, she explained the Roma are Muslim and chicken is a significant part of their diet since they do not eat pork. It was an isolated incident, she said.

That's where PennLive's conversation with Dochia was cut short by a dark-haired man with a heavy five o'clock shadow and a blue polo shirt.

"Our religion, no talk to women," the man said, walking up to the porch, cigarette in hand.

When asked if there was someone else who could talk, he said, walking away, "Come tomorrow. Guy come for you."

He and several other men said the same thing the day before. "Come tomorrow."

An attempt to speak to another group of Roma at a home next to California's only gas station ended similarly.

Using the Google Translate app, this PennLive reporter tried to speak to several men sitting around a table, smoking cigarettes and drinking Mountain Dew. At the sight of the phone, a balding, older man dressed in white held up his hand and said "No pictures."

When he saw the translation and realized it was a request for an interview, he simply said, "Come tomorrow."

Some California residents say the self-imposed isolation of the Romas is the root of the problems. Others say it's simply a hurdle to overcome.

But mayoral candidate Rosemary Capanna said since folks in town heard about her efforts to reach out to this community, she has been getting private messages from some of the older residents.

"They remember this happening to them," Capanna said. She hopes an understanding can be reached soon for the sake of the town they all love. "In the end, we all live together here."