LOCKLAND, Ohio — In 2023, the Village of Lockland had a population of just 3,500. One year later, village leaders say that number has doubled as an estimated 3,000 West African migrants pack into the small Hamilton County community.
The dramatic influx is overwhelming finances, resources and emergency services in the village, which only spans 1.2 miles between neighboring Reading and Wyoming.
"With the federal government's open border policy, these immigration population outbursts have been left for small villages like Lockland to have to deal with," Mayor Mark Mason told WCPO Tuesday. "If they're going to have an open border policy they're going to need a policy to direct these immigrants to communities that can withstand that kind of population outburst. 1.2 square mile village — it's unsustainable."
Thousands of asylum seekers from Mauritania — an Islamic country in West Africa — have been migrating to the U.S. in recent years. More than 8,500 found their way to Ohio between March and June 2023, many of whom live in the Cincinnati area, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Mauritania was one of the last nations to criminalize slavery, and the practice is widely believed to persist in parts of the country.
Many Mauritanians are finding their way to Cincinnati from a route posted on TikTok and WhatsApp that flows from Mauritania to Turkey, then Central or South America to the U.S.
"In the last year it's just ballooned," Mason said "TikTok stories telling people how to get to the Village of Lockland and I think that has aided the explosion."
Many of the Mauritanian people in Lockland were able to enter the U.S. under current federal migration policies. Though their entrance into the country triggered the start of a work permit application process, approvals can take between a year and 18 months.
Because many of the 3,000 migrants living in the village do not work legally, Mason said they do not pay taxes.
"We're looking at, right now, at probably close to a $200,000 shortfall in our earnings income tax revenue," he said.
Concerns over increased migrant populations are not new. Last month, WCPO reported on similar complaints of Haitian migrants allegedly overburdening housing and health care in the city of Springfield.
But Doug Wehmeyer said the village purse isn't the only thing straining from the population growth. Emergency services are overburdened now too.
Wehmeyer serves as both the village's administrator and fire chief. He said the fire department makes an average of 1,500 emergency runs each year. That number has increased by 12% this year, with almost all the extra calls made by or on behalf of Mauritanian community members.
"If you look at a response map of our area, there are two bright red hot zones on the heat map and that heat map would show you the two apartment complexes that the majority of the Mauritanians are living at," he said.
There are close to 200 units between the apartment complexes, and almost every single one is occupied by Mauritanian tenants, Wehmeyer said. But instead of two to four people, in many cases upwards of a dozen people are cramming inside units.
Village leaders said firefighters are typically responding to cooking fires.
"On the more severe end we've responded to a structure fire that involved two apartment units within the Mulberry Court complex which involved the evacuation of literally hundreds of Mauritanians," he said. "In 35 years in the fire service, I don't think I've ever seen more people standing outside the outside of a building as I did when we arrived on scene."
That sparks concerns over health and safety risks, Wehmeyer said. With cultural differences and the Mauritanians' primary languages being Arabic and French, many of those residing in Lockland do not speak English, making it difficult to communicate the fire safety and code requirements.
"You can't blame these (native) residents for wanting to have a safe situation for their families to reside in," Mason said.
A Cincinnati nonprofit is pushing back on the security clouding the Mauritanian population. On Tuesday Sheryl Rajbhandari, who runs Heartfelt Tidbits, spoke in defense of the people she said she's been working to help acclimate into the community for the past 18 months.
Her organization provides support to refugees and recent immigrants living in Southwestern Ohio by facilitating integration and self-sufficiency through education and cultural and employment-enhancing programming.
Rajbhandari said her team of volunteers works closely with Mauritanians to develop English language skills.
"When I hear people defining this — 'they're illegal' — and I'm like, but what does that mean? Are you saying that they weren't given permission to enter into this country? And I think many people think if they're not carrying a green card they're not legal and I'm like, but they are legal."
Rajbhandari said she agrees with Lockland administrators that the influx of Mauritanian people came much too fast, but she argues there is a way to approach the matter with with open arms.
"I don't think anybody was prepared. Heartfelt Tidbits wasn't prepared to quadruple the amount of people we see each week, right? But at the same time, we were also very willing to say, 'Alright, how do we collectively work together to figure out this problem,'" she said. "I think when you're working together as a community it's helpful — we haven't had that kind of rapport here, which is sad because I wish (Lockland leaders) would come to Heartfelt Tidbits and see how many people show up for English class, how many people are preparing for job readiness."
When their work authorizations are approved, the Mauritanians are typically working within two weeks of receiving the paperwork, Rajbhandari said.
"They will work anywhere you say there's an opening. So they've been dishwashers, and maybe in their own country they were electricians, so they don't balk at that," she said. "Once they have money saved, they go get a place of their own. They don't want to be in apartments where it's overcrowded either."
Rajbhandari said she's tried reaching out to the Lockland administration, but neither Mason nor Wehmeyer have returned her calls.
WCPO asked Mason if the village has attempted conversations with the Mauritanian population, to which the mayor had a quick reply.
"Good luck with that because they don't speak English," he said.
Mason said he's repeatedly sought help from local and state leaders, including Gov. Mike Dewine and Senators JD Vance and Sherrod Brown, to help address the strain on his community. While no financial assistance has yet made its way to Lockland, Mason said he's hopeful he won't have to wait much longer.
"I think with the attention that this is getting, we are starting to get more phone calls back and so I think we're headed in the right direction," he said. "And it's not the fact that they're Mauritanians. They could be Croatians or whoever. It's the fact that this 1.2 square mile village cannot absorb this kind of increase on our population ... we didn't ask for them to come here. There's people out there saying 'Oh, Lockland's making money off this.' We're not making a dime off this. If anything it's costing us money."
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