By Bertha Banuet *
On December 12th of last year, the United States and Mexico celebrated the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between both countries. And with it, we have the unique opportunity to look back and assess our recent accomplishments and failures.
On the one hand, there are solid achievements which continued to foster bilateral such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the new Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Heath, and Safe Communities (which replaced the Merida Initiative), the Migrant Protection Protocols (often referred to as the “Remain in Mexico” policy) and other programs to address key issues of mutual interest. On the other hand, the impact and results of this first or second-generation initiatives have not borne the expected fruit.
The main bilateral challenges have remained the same for decades: security, trade and migration. Irregular migration through the Mexico border has been one of United States’ main priorities of its foreign policy in recent decades. The examination itself of the current humanitarian crisis happening along the U.S.-Mexico border provides us a deeper insight into the long and complicated U.S.-Mexico relationship. However, there is a need to examine other migration trends happening between countries which involves the boost in the number of U.S. citizens opting to live in Mexico. What is exactly happening on the other side of the wall?
First, we need to understand where and why are U.S.-born citizens moving to Mexico. Mexico is the country with the most American emigrants in the world. The number of U.S.-born citizens living in the country is close to 1.6 million by late 2021, according to the U.S. Department of State. However, this number is likely higher since the Mexican government doesn’t keep track of exactly how U.S. citizens hold either resident or tourist visas. In the first five months of last year, it was estimated that 5.3 million U.S. tourists visited Mexico, which makes entirely necessary to reconsider how many of them have decided to stay.
The reasons driving U.S. citizens to stay in Mexico can be classified into five different categories based on their occupation and their main reason for making Mexico their new home. Firstly, there are U.S. retirees and pensioners, who intend to live permanently without seeking employment in Mexico. Most of them move to primarily three regions, Ajijic along the shores of Lake Chapala in Jalisco and (where it is estimated that more than 10,000 U.S. citizens live), San Miguel de Allende, in Guanajuato (14,000 are estimated to live there), and Baja California. Some of them have seen in Mexico a country where to live while purchasing prescription drugs at an affordable price.
Secondly, there is the new wave of remote workers and freelancers for mainly U.S. companies who often live in the most popular neighborhoods in Mexico City and in towns in the Yucatán Peninsula for several months. This group still gets their income in dollars and usually hold a tourist visa. They often take advantage of the lack of immigration restrictions and the low cost of living compared to U.S. living standards. In sum, they save money while enjoying of a better life style, as their dollars go much further in Mexico.
Thirdly, there are U.S.-citizens at the border that go back and forth from Mexico to the U.S. every day for work, studies, and vocational training. Although this has been occurring for decades, this phenomenon was aggravated by bursts of post-pandemic inflation, large-scale reallocations of economic resources, and an increase in housing prices. As a result, more U.S. citizens crossed to border and acquired property in main border cities such as in Tijuana, which in turn just became Mexico’s most populated municipality.
Fourth, there are people who work for either international or Mexican companies as well as businessmen who want to open a company in Mexico.
Last but not least, the fifth category, there is the U.S.-born children and teenagers who have emigrated to Mexico to accompany their parents: de facto deported, as a result of a stricter enforcement of U.S. immigration policy and laws involving mixed circumstances of voluntary and involuntary departures. Although most of them intend to return to the U.S. in the future, it is a fact that they still face substantial difficulties in the social transitions, tough times in the emotional distress, school adaptation making it into a disorienting and uprooting experience. De facto deported U.S.-born children data is unclear but it is estimated to be more than half a million, and the number increases every year.
Geographically speaking, the majority of Mexico’s foreign-born population is concentrated in the northern states with a total of 404,144 people living in Baja California, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, according to 2020 numbers collected by Mexico’s statistics agency (INEGI). Per the same count, there are 213,795 foreign-born persons living in the central states of Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Nayarit, Zacatecas, among others. Lastly, in the south (including Mexico City) the number is about 179,304 people living along the states of Campeche, Querétaro, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Oaxaca, etc.
In many cases, sky-rocketing cost of living in the U.S., good potential returns on investments, among other economic reasons are driving more and more Americans to move to Mexico. As a result, Mexicans in some neighborhoods are now experiencing higher housing prices themselves and some shops are being closed in favor of trendy coffee shops, gyms, and restaurants.
Mexico and the United States confront the same dilemma. Both countries have broken immigration systems that provide short-term economic relief to people on both sides of the border. In some neighborhoods in Mexico, this phenomenon has led to real concerns due to many people forced to move out. There is a need for a larger conversation to better develop policies that benefit all proportionally.
