Residents in southwest Ohio say the arrival of Uzbek immigrants and trucking businesses has brought growing unease over road safety, alleged fraud and changes in their neighborhoods. Some say they no longer feel comfortable in places they once considered home.
Jane, who asked not to be identified by her real name, said her experience eventually led her to leave a home she had bought in the area after only 18 months. She said she had been raising concerns for years and felt someone needed to pay attention.
Jane described repeated conflicts with neighbors she identified as Uzbek. She said children had grabbed at moving cars, climbed construction equipment, threatened her dog and taken her child’s bicycle. She also recalled children urinating on cars, adults slaughtering chickens outdoors where her child could see, and semi-truck cabs blocking driveways.
Walking her dog, Jane said, she sometimes encountered groups of around 15 men gathered on the grass between homes. The encounters left her feeling deeply uncomfortable; she said the men stared at her as if she were out of place.
She also recounted an incident in which several men arrived at a neighbor’s house late at night with large bags. After the neighbor told them they had the wrong address, Jane said, the men went across the street into a garage, where the neighbor saw them counting cash taken from the bags.
Jane estimated that she called police at least 20 times. She said she felt officers were either unable or unwilling to step in, and that her family had little choice but to leave. She is using a pseudonym because she fears for her family’s safety and possible retaliation.
In nearby Middletown, a building that once housed a restaurant now stands empty, with broken windows and little sign of activity. Yet it is listed as the headquarters of UAG Express, a trucking company whose record includes more than two dozen violations involving issues such as vehicle maintenance, unsafe driving, suspended commercial licenses and hours-of-service rules.
GHOSTOPSUZ, who anonymously posts online about trucking businesses he considers suspicious and the growth of the Uzbek community, said the building had personal meaning to him. As a child, he used to visit the restaurant with his family after Sunday Mass. Seeing its current condition, he said, was devastating. Several large trucks were parked behind it, though he saw no evidence of recent activity.
He also raised concerns about sharing roads with drivers who, he said, may not speak English or understand U.S. laws. His daughter plays competitive volleyball, he added, so the family spends considerable time on those roads. He said the trucking activity showed little regard for the surrounding community.
UAG Express is owned by Aziz Ishanov. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
At a Nov. 4 meeting, dozens of Hamilton Township residents brought concerns to local trustees. Their comments covered alleged trucking fraud, a mosque, crowded schools and safety issues they associated with the Uzbek community.
One resident questioned how the trucking activity and funding for a mosque under construction had been approved. Others spoke about crowded classrooms, children who do not speak English, men watching women outside gyms, and an Uzbek child who recently drowned in a local pond. Some also alleged that truck drivers had offered women money to get into their vehicles.
One speaker said they found Islamic and Christian values incompatible, while acknowledging that it was difficult to make a broad criticism of a group. The speaker said they believed some members of the community were not trying to assimilate.
Another resident said local schools were overwhelmed and that children were suffering as resources were stretched thin.
Local police have also focused on trucking safety. At the meeting, Hamilton Township Police Chief Quillan Short presented results from a freight-fraud operation coordinated by several agencies from Oct. 19 to 23. The operation involved 561 traffic stops and 258 truck inspections. Authorities issued 423 citations, took 73 vehicles and 49 drivers out of service, and made 36 arrests, including 31 involving immigration-related offenses.
Township trustee Darryl Cordrey called the results striking, particularly given that the operation lasted only five days. He said residents had reason to worry about unsafe commercial vehicles, unqualified drivers and other criminal activity linked to the growth of trucking operations in the township. Residents, he added, should not have to bear the consequences of shortcomings in immigration policy or trucking oversight.
Cordrey said policies under the Biden administration had contributed to problems the township was now facing. He said he was committed to working with local, state and federal agencies to address them.
Ohio state Rep. Michelle Teska attended the meeting and is supporting a bill to tighten commercial-driver licensing rules, including a requirement that driver examinations be conducted in English. She said Ohio currently allows commercial licenses and driver’s licenses to be obtained in 10 languages, and argued that the trucking industry had helped draw people to the area. Teska said she shared residents’ frustration but noted that many of the issues are decided at the state or federal level.
Federal authorities have also stepped up enforcement against trucking fraud and safety violations. The Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have taken about 34,000 drivers out of service for failing basic English-proficiency requirements, revoked or canceled more than 31,000 commercial licenses that were issued improperly, and removed nearly 10,000 noncompliant driving schools from the federal registry.
Teska said the matter was about public safety, not party politics. She pointed to a rape conviction, a federal human-smuggling indictment and a fatal crash in which a driver could not communicate with troopers without an interpreter, arguing that each incident could have been prevented.
Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell has previously said that activity involving the Uzbek community in southwest Ohio warrants law-enforcement attention. He said felony cases involving Uzbek defendants had become frequent, with few weeks passing without one.
The Islamic Center of Maineville, a mosque that has drawn criticism from some residents, said in a message posted to Telegram that it recognizes local concerns and wants to work with the community. The Hamkor Uzbek Cincinnati Association said it was willing to listen, address misunderstandings and look for practical solutions through respectful dialogue and cooperation.
2024 Census data indicate that about 1,500 people born in Uzbekistan live in the Greater Cincinnati area and roughly 3,800 live across Ohio. Uzbek community leaders say the population is considerably larger, estimating that around 4,000 Uzbek families live in southern Ohio, including children born in the United States.
In a statement read at the trustees’ meeting, local online researcher Nodawolf, who has reported on alleged trucking fraud, said residents believed the community had been chosen because outsiders expected little resistance. The statement said locals would not accept the area being used for others’ financial gain.
