August 14, 2019

Welcomed migrants? U.S. citizens in Mexico

topic:	Humans
located:	USA, Mexico
editor:	Magdalena Rojo

In a Facebook group for foreigners in Oaxaca I constantly read people asking if the city is as safe and pleasant to live in as others say. They ask about the health care possibilities or, once they move in, they search for groups of foreigners to meet up with, for example.

American retirees are one group of Americans who come to Mexico to find a new home, searching mostly for a moderate climate and lower prices. Other groups are people working online, often for American clients, and children of Mexican parents who were born in the U.S. but moved to Mexico once their parents got deported. And then, there is also a group of American citizens who cannot afford to pay housing in the United States and so they decide to live in border towns on the other side of the border.

In May this year, the U.S.-born population in Mexico has reached 799,000. The real numbers however might be even 1.5 million, estimates the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

Many Americans do not register with Mexican authorities, they simply overstay their tourist visas. They can afford to do so because the Mexican government has been very benevolent with this group of immigrants who come and support the local economies. They do not get deported, unlike other groups of migrants, mostly from Central America. Usually, they pay a fine if they do not have the paper work done.

If we talk about migration, let's not be one-sided. People move across the borders in all directions. Mexican-U.S. border is a great example. Washington Post states that more people are probably moving south than north recently, if we include Mexicans moving back to their home country.

Once Americans live in the country, they create libraries for English speakers, they provide tours for tourists, or they run NGOs that cooperate with locals, among other activities. They also raise prices of rents. For example in Oaxaca, locals can hardly afford to live in the downtown area. One reason is that migrants from the other side can afford to pay more. Americans are becoming a part of the landscape of many Mexican cities, mainly those that are safer. A question of how Mexico will approach these migrants is relevant at the moment. According to the Washington Post, the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked the foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, to do something about the fact that Mexican authorities know very little about the needs of this group.

I am not surprised Americans choose Mexico over the U.S. nowadays. Many of them must have substantially higher quality of lives in the neighboring state than their own. Plus, they are accepted as migrants, according to many, they feel welcomed. I believe that is how every migrant in the globe wants to feel in his or her destination.