Ohio mayor sounds alarm after village rocked by thousands of African illegal immigrants: ‘Unsustainable’

LOCKLAND, Ohio — The mayor of a small village near Cincinnati says he needs help from the federal government after a surge in illegal immigration, primarily from Mauritania, that nearly outnumbers the local population and which he calls “unsustainable.”

“Our county officials estimate that we have about 3,000 of those who came to the village of 3,420 people. immigrants into communities that can absorb that kind of population growth,” Lockland Mayor Mark Mason told Fox News Digital.

Officials want to focus on revitalizing the village and its economy, which has been downgraded from the city due to population decline, but instead they find themselves strained by the stress caused by the huge number of illegal immigrants.

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There are several apartment buildings that officials and residents say have been taken over by the Mauritanians, who are said to be overcrowded with apartments.

Village Administrator Doug Wehmeyer recently told Fox News Digital that this would result in a loss of about $150,000 for the village as illegal immigrants don’t pay taxes and displace local residents who move out of these apartments. The mayor shares this assessment.

“Our firefighters and paramedics are under stress. Since moving into these apartment complexes, many longtime residents have moved out due to numerous fires. This is because they don’t understand how to cook on stoves and use high levels of fat when cooking, which has caused numerous fires,” Mason said.

“And so a lot of people don’t want to expose their families to unsafe conditions in these apartment complexes. So they moved out—the working tenants—and moved. And most don’t have a job. They do not benefit society. They are not contributing to your tax base and that is a major concern,” he said.

Other problems include litter throughout the village. The mayor also says that a number of residents have complained about how they are treated by the Mauritanians.

“If you’re going to allow immigrants to come here freely, you have to educate them about the cultural differences in how things work here and make them understand that some things you might be used to in Mauritania (not ‘t’) are necessarily acceptable here , in the United States,” he said.

Ultimately, one of the biggest challenges is the numbers.

A swing state official has warned that a village is struggling with financial losses after an influx of illegal immigrants.

“A village of 1.2 square miles simply cannot accommodate nearly double its population. This is unsustainable,” he said.

He argued that the federal government should help small communities and direct migrants to communities, including those that are sanctuaries.

Lockland’s case echoes cities such as Springfield, Ohio, which has seen 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 struggled to cope with waves of immigration they saw moving into their sanctuary jurisdictions as the border crisis moved north.

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Recently, officials and residents in Logansport, Indiana, said they were experiencing an influx of Haitians.

“And shame on the federal government for allowing this to happen to small communities like ours. This is happening all over 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 the Mauritanians, but immigration has affected small town USA. And it’s just unfair that this is left to local governments and local residents have to deal with these situations,” he said.

Fox News’ Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.