LOCKLAND, Ohio — The mayor of a small village near Cincinnati says he needs help from the federal government after a surge of illegal immigration primarily from Mauritania that nearly exceeds the local population and that he says is “unsustainable.”
“Our county officials estimate that we have around 3,000 of those that have come to a village of 3,420 residents. And our complaint is, if the federal government is going to have an open borders policy, with that they need to have a policy directing these immigrants to communities that can absorb that kind of population increase,” Lockland Mayor Mark Mason told Fox News Digital.
Officials want to be focused on revitalizing the village and its economy, which was downgraded from a city due to its shrinking population, but they instead find themselves strained by the stress of the enormous number of illegal immigrants.
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This image shows the town of Lockland, Ohio. (Fox News Digital)
There are multiple apartment blocks that officials and residents say are taken over by Mauritanians, who are said to be packed beyond capacity in apartments.
Village Administrator Doug Wehmeyer told Fox News Digital recently that it is leading to around $150,000 in losses for the village, as the illegal immigrants do not pay taxes and are displacing local residents who are moving out of those apartments. It is an assessment shared by the mayor.
“Our fire and paramedic services have been stressed. Since they moved into these apartment complexes, a lot of the longtime residents have moved out because of multiple fires. It’s been caused by their not understanding how to cook on stoves, and they use high levels of grease in their cooking, which have caused multiple fires,” Mason said.
“And so a lot of people don’t want to subject their families to unsafe conditions in these apartment complexes. So, therefore, they’ve moved out – the working residents – and they have moved in. And most don’t have jobs, they don’t contribute to society. They don’t contribute to your earnings tax base. And it’s a real concern,” he said.
Border Patrol picks up a group of asylum seekers from an aid camp at the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe, Arizona, on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (Justin Hamel/Getty Images)
Other concerns include littering throughout the village. The mayor also says a number of female residents have complained about how they are treated by the Mauritanians.
“If you’re going to let immigrants just come over freely, you’ve got to educate them on the cultural differences in how things operate here and make them understand that some of the things that maybe you’re used to in Mauritania [isn’t] necessarily acceptable here in the United States,” he said.
Ultimately, one of the biggest issues is numbers.
“A village of 1.2 square miles can just not absorb almost a doubling in their population. It’s unsustainable,” he said.
He argued that it is up to the federal government to help small communities and to direct migrants to communities, including those that are sanctuary communities.
Lockland’s case echoes towns and cities like Springfield, Ohio, which saw a surge in Haitian migration in recent years, and Charleroi, Pennsylvania, which has also been overwhelmed by Haitian migration.
Meanwhile, cities like Chicago and New York City have struggled to handle the waves of immigration they have seen move to their sanctuary jurisdictions as the border crisis has moved north.
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Recently, officials and residents in Logansport, Indiana, say they have struggled with an influx of Haitians.
“And shame on the federal government for allowing this to happen to small communities like ours. It’s happening throughout the country,” Mason said.
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“Pick a state, pick a small community, and you can read about it. It may not be Mauritanians, but immigration has affected small town USA. And it’s just not fair that this is dropped on local governments, local residents to have to deal with these situations,” he said.
Fox News’ Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.