Lockland, a small village near Cincinnati, Ohio, is struggling with an influx of Mauritanian illegal immigrants, causing economic strain and affecting the quality of life.
A Washington Post analysis found that over 15,000 Mauritanians arrived in the U.S. last year, a 2,800% increase from 2022. With a population of about 3,500, Lockland has seen many arrivals, with 2,700 settling in Ohio in 2023 and about half in nearby Cincinnati.
“If you look at 2021, 2022, the United States had seen a huge influx of immigrants from Mauritania. Somehow, a good number of them have landed in Lockland,” Lockland Village Administrator Doug Wehmeyer told Fox News Digital.
Wehmeyer then reported that at least two nearby apartment complexes are over-occupied, with up to 12 people living in units meant for four:
“You have an apartment building that’s . . . say, 80 units at four people per unit. That’s about 320 people. When you double or maybe even triple that population, the building systems aren’t designed to handle that. So when you use the utilities, that’s backing up. We have instances where people are going in to take a shower and feces is running out of the drains, filling the bathtubs as it comes from a floor above. That’s compounded probably by the cooking methods that they use, which is a heavy grease-laden process.”
Wehmeyer noted the risk of overcrowding in a building meant for 320 people, which may have significantly more residents and lack sufficient exits, leading to safety concerns during fires. He also mentioned the financial strain on the small community, as asylum-seeking illegal immigrants can’t work immediately and may wait months for work permits.
“So, most of the immigrants living in Lockland are unable to work. And if they are unable to work, they’re unable to pay taxes,” he said. “And they have essentially displaced the taxpaying residents of these 200 apartment units and filled them with non-tax-paying residents. We’re losing about $125,000 to 150,000 in revenue because of that.”
“I don’t know how they found our small village,” he added. “We like it. We think it’s a great place to live, but the quality of life here is definitely being affected by this problem.”
Lockland has sought help from congressional offices, state representatives, and the governor’s office for financial aid to offset the village’s losses. Though they believe progress is being made, Lockland’s struggles mirror those in towns like Springfield, Ohio, and Charleroi, Pennsylvania, which have seen a rise in Haitian migrants. Larger cities like Chicago and New York have also voiced concerns over the strain caused by the influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants.
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