QGIS Not recognizing imported point coordinates as geometry

Question

I am trying to add point data to a project in a delimited text layer. The lat/long values appear in the attribute table of the new layer but they do not map as points.

I have looked for answers here first. Based on these, I made sure the CRS of all layers in the project matched and that I entered the x field as the longitude field in my csv and the y field as the latitude. Still, no success. I get the same results trying to import the coordinates as a number or as string, with the "decimal separator is comma" checked or not. I've also tried another similarly formatted file but without trailing zeros (taking a stab in the dark!)

What else should I be doing?

I'm including pictures of my data source manager window, attribute table, and a sample of my data as it appears in the CSV, in case that helps to see.

clarifying edits below:

I've re-loaded it with "Decimal separator is comma" unchecked, and as with previous attempts doing so, it hasn't made a difference. I will continue to leave it unchecked when trying other solutions.

When it is unchecked, and I view the attributes table, there are only null values for the latitude and longitude fields when I try to import with those fields set to decimal numbers. When it is unchecked, the actual values from the CSV only show up when I try to import them as string data.

It always appears in my layers panel and there are sometimes lat/long values in the the attributes table, depending on the selections I make when initially importing, described above.

It's the topmost layer, and I can't see points. I'm not able to zoom to the layer, that option doesn't appear in the menu when I right click. It has a 0 feature count, while the CSV has 1334 points.

I have added images of my layers panel and the map canvas below those in my initial post.

epa_id,site_latitude,site_longitude
CTD980732333,‭41.893947‬,‭-72.989337‬
CTD072122062,‭41.431950‬,‭-73.035281‬
CTD001452093,‭41.481110‬,‭-72.681388‬
CTD108960972,‭41.665281‬,‭-71.924161‬
CTD980670814,‭41.130550‬,‭-73.431950‬
CTD980521165,‭41.476939‬,‭-73.071661‬
CTD001153923,‭41.940561‬,‭-71.966939‬
CTD980906515,‭41.400139‬,‭-72.087081‬
CTD051316313,‭41.849750‬,‭-72.447911‬
CTD001186618,‭41.201278‬,‭-73.117222‬
CT0002265551,‭41.550389‬,‭-73.010639‬
CTD009717604,‭41.619600‬,‭-72.878000‬
CTD009774969,‭41.669450‬,‭-71.964161‬
MAD001026319,‭41.635561‬,‭-70.894450‬
MAD001041987,‭42.149719‬,‭-71.028611‬
MAN000106144,‭42.074417‬,‭-71.410806‬
MAD982191363,‭42.138749‬,‭-71.251667‬
MAD003809266,‭42.669450‬,‭-71.443339‬
MAD001031574,‭42.553111‬,‭-70.926722‬
MA7210025154,‭42.536111‬,‭-71.596111‬

Answer 1

There's some sort of invisible character in front of and in back of each latitude and longitude. If you put that file into Excel and save as a CSV, you'll see a "?" before and after each latitude and longitude:

"CTD980732333,?41.893947?,?-72.989337?"

You can then scrub the "?" and you'll have a usable file.