A small town outside Cincinnati, Ohio is struggling to cope with a massive influx of illegal* immigrants from Mauritania, a west African nation that has long been plagued by security issues. Officials have warned that the town is collapsing due to the financial burden of such a large number of illegal* aliens flooding the once quiet village.
“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.
In June, the Washington Post published an analysis that found more than 15,000 illegal* aliens entered the United States from Mauritania last year. This represents an enormous increase from 2022, when just 543 individuals entered the country, an overall increase of 2,800%.
In Lockland — an Ohio village of just 3,500 — has received an astronomical number of Mauritanian border crossers. The Washington Post found that 2,700 Mauritanians settled in Ohio in 2023, with about half going to nearby Cincinnati.
Wehmeyer told Fox News that at least two of the nearby apartment complexes are over-occupied, which are structured to house just four people. Upon inspection, authorities are finding up to 12 people in each unit.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
The village administrator noted that the buildings in question are designed to hold a maximum of 320 people, though they are now well over capacity. This has led to a number of logistical issues, and has created a fire hazard due to an insufficient number of exits. He also noted that the town is crumbling under the financial burden of such a large number of illegal* aliens, many of whom are unable to work for months on end while their asylum claims are processed.
“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.”
Wehmeyer stated that village officials have met with congressional leaders, as well as representatives from the governor’s office, as the town attempts to cope with the crisis. Village officials are requesting financial assistance due to the burden placed on residents and city services.
“I don’t know how they found our small village. 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,” he said.