Another Rust Belt town in southwest Ohio is becoming overwhelmed by overseas migrants who’ve nearly doubled the town’s population of 3,500.
A local Cincinnati television station reported last month that while Springfield copes with tens of thousands of Haitian arrivals, “the small village of Lockland is grappling with its own crisis.”
“Estimates suggested that there are up to 3,000 asylum-seeking immigrants, primarily from Mauritania, residing in the Cincinnati suburb,” Local 12 reported. “Lockland Fire Chief and Village Administrator Doug Wehmeyer said the Mauritanians are living in several apartment buildings, often with as many as 10 people in units designed for four.”
“It’s creating a dangerous situation for the residents and firefighters,” Wehmeyer told the television station. “In most cases, all they have is a mattress, a couch, and some clothes. So, while we’re trying to advance a fire hose line down the hallway, they are pulling mattresses and clothes out [of the units], believing that it’s over [and the building will burn down]. Where we look at that and say, ‘Man, there’s 10 people in a unit.’ They look at that and it’s better than the condition they came from.”
Migrants are reportedly calling 911 whenever they get sick, “putting a strain on ambulance crews and local hospitals,” Local 12 reported, while the “public works crew is spending more time cleaning up trash in areas surrounding the immigrants.”
Wehmeyer was in meetings both times his office was called by The Federalist on Thursday and did not return a phone call Friday.
In another story by Local 12, Lockland Mayor Mark Mason said the new arrivals have stretched emergency resources with calls for non-emergencies.
“Then, when there’s a true emergency, our units are already out, and so you have to wait for a neighboring agency to come,” Mason told the local station. “We’ve had apartments catch on fire multiple times because they’re not used to cooking on stoves.”
Mayor Mason, however, did not respond to The Federalist’s request for an interview. The mayor did say the city met with town’s congressional representative, Republican Rep. Warren Davidson, but Davidson’s office also did not respond to The Federalist’s inquiries.
The escalating migrant crisis in Lockland is a reflection of a broader pattern exemplified in Springfield. Testimonies of residents at a Springfield City Commission meeting went viral in the days leading up to the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Community members in the city of 60,000 raised the myriad issues which have plagued neighborhoods with the sudden arrival of more than 20,000 Haitians to the already struggling blue collar city between Dayton and Columbus.
“These Haitians are running into trash cans. They’re running into buildings. They’re flipping cars in the middle of the street, and I don’t know how like, y’all can be comfortable with this,” said a resident named Anthony Harris. “They’re in the park, grabbing up ducks by the neck and cutting their heads off and eating them.”
Local police have collected multiple reports of residents calling the authorities about Haitian goose-hunting in Springfield parks before the city became a national emblem of unchecked immigration.
Ohio Lt. Gov. John Husted explained with a post on X the Haitians arrived to Springfield because “temporary employment agencies were connecting Haitians to jobs at local food processing plants.”
“There may be other explanations, but this is the one that I heard most frequently,” said Husted.
The lieutenant governor declined to offer The Federalist an interview on why 3,000 migrants from Mauritania landed in Lockland.
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