What do you think about Americans relocating to mexico?

37 comments

1. I think they can relocate if they want to. We aren’t Cuba, forcing people to stay here.

2. I don’t much care, they’re free to do so, I’m genuinely sorry and embarrassed if they’re not polite and respectful.

3. I don’t care if people want to leave here and go somewhere else. If your country has a problem with the people that are moving there, you guys should do something about it.

4. Irony, no?

5. I can’t say that’s something I really think about. I’ve heard of some people retiring to mexico or other latin american countries because they have limited money and can live a better life on less money there but that is about all I know. I would expect like with people of any nationality, some are nice and some are jerks.

6. I see no issue with Americans moving to Mexico, but they shouldn’t be rude.

7. They can go if they want. Might be a better question for expat subs 

8. I couldn’t care less about someone moving to Mexico.

9. We’re not sending our best.

   Some of them, I assume, are good people.

10. I moved to Mexico for a little bit ..not relevant because I am also Mexican and living with Mexicans so that wasn’t a factor (Although it did play some part in some early difficulties.Americans understand introverts more)

    and Mexico is the country with the most Americans outside of America. I think its a localized issue not an general one .if it was true there would be complaints long before. And if anything I think Mexico should loosen its immigration laws more then US should(although most countries should IMO) because its less political over there and as a poorer country Mexico could use the people. Mexico is more diverse and mulit cultural then people think but also more of an actual assimilation model to migration so in a generation those Americans will be indistinguishable from Mexicans.

    so in short dont think its a real problem

11. For (the likely) context, the reason this has returned to the news is an angry tourist in Mazatlán leading to a ban on banda music at a particular beach. The rough equivalent would be banning country from a tourist spot in Nashville. It’s not a good look.

    I suppose as the resident American in Mexico, I have a few thoughts.

    The first, is that (sorry MORENA), the idea that Americans moving to Mexico is responsible for recent rises in prices is a myth. Everywhere in the world is experiencing runaway inflation over the last 4 years. The fact that it’s happening nationwide in Mexico, even in places like Zacatecas or Culiacán which have an American population of like 2 people, means that this wasn’t a gentrification issue.

    The second is that, yeah, there are some places that just kinda suck because they only cater to an upper-class from another nation. Tulum feels like a colony, and it’s gross.

    The third is that the ruling party are obviously going out of their way to make it easier for Americans to skirt immigration laws, in the hopes that they bring more money. I, don’t really care about this, I don’t care about illegal immigrants in the US, I don’t really care about them in Mexico either.

    Overall, the US represents a really complicated mix of neo-colonial overlord, political scapegoat, source of money, and common place to move, that is way way too complicated to untangle in anything less than a whole book.

12. I have lived in Mexico in the past. I liked everything about the place except corruption and the narco-government connections, both of which are worse now than they were back then.

13. I’m American and I dont care if Americans move to Mexico. I know a lot of Americans are moving to Mexico City and it is driving up the cost for the locals. That’s not my problem tho, so I dont really care..

14. If that’s what they want then more power to them. Iv’e seen a few documentaries about Americans living in Mexico city and Mexicans typically have mixed reactions about them being there. Mexicans wish they would learn the language respect their culture while allowing Americans to participate in it. Some Mexicans are worried about gentrification of neighborhoods due to large scale expat communties forming which is driving up housing costs.

15. I don’t know if I fully understand the question. I’m sure the Americans doing so have their reasons, and those reasons are probably for the most part self-serving. But that’s not any different than any other migration, right?

    If Mexicans take issue with American immigrants coming in to stay, then it’s ultimately their prerogative to react. I don’t think it’s mine to have a strong opinion on

16. You’re probably confusing the Americans for rude Canadians. They are unfortunately everywhere down there.

17. I have no strong opinion on this.

18. If they can have a lower cost of living while still getting what they need, why not?

    As long as they are not being assholes to the locals, why should I care?

19. It’s kind of up to y’all, I don’t have a horse in that race.

20. People only move because it’s cheaper to live and we do have a rent housing crisis in the first world nations. Not just the US. But Mexico complaining is fucking hilarious and audacious considering how much trouble they have they caused regarding crossing borders o

21. I get it.

    Mexico has a lower cost of living. My retirement is very far away but I’m considering it for myself. I’ll learning Spanish right now, and yall have good food. I promise I won’t be racist.

22. Well well well. How the turn tables

23. I think primarily a certain type of American moves to Mexico and other poorer countries. I am somewhat familiar as my parents made this dubious choice in retirement.

    This type of “immigrant” (who calls them self an expat, because immigrants are poor lower class people), moves to different culture strictly for the economic benefit to themselves and expects to continue having the exact same lifestyle they were accustomed to in the US. They typically have no interest at all in the culture or the people and frequently don’t learn the language.

    They socialize exclusively with other “expats” and hire locals only to do labor jobs they don’t want to do. They pay the locals a tiny fraction of what they would pay Americans for the work and then pat themselves on the back for providing jobs and helping the local economy. Most of their conversations focus on how smart they were to make the decision to move to this country and how much better it is here. Meanwhile they push native people out of the housing market as they happily buy real estate too expensive for local people and brag to their friends back in America about how cheap their house was.

    They complain when service isn’t up to American standards and when they can’t find the type of dishwasher, fridge, or washing machine they used to have in the states. They complain when medical providers don’t have English speaking staff. Ironically, most of these people are the same people who would complain about Mexicans moving to America and not learning the language.

    We are definitely not sending our best.

24. I do t have an opinion on people moving other than not liking that they may go there and give us a bad rep and act poorly/raising cost of living, etc.. so, them leaving is meaningless but I hate that is negatively impacts locals who may then hold that against other people from the US.

25. It’s not a common enough thing for me to think much about. My aunt moved to Mexico recently, but she married a Mexican man, so that makes sense. In general, I support people moving wherever they want—whether that’s Americans moving to Mexico, Mexicans moving to the US, or Japanese moving to Norway.

26. As long as they are polite and respect the local culture and customs, I don’t see a problem. The uno reverse happens all the time

27. I’m not offended. I understand why you’re asking.

    There is a trend right now of a lot of people moving to desert states because of expense, or for work, or for other reasons. There is a lot of re-shuffling here, as well as in Mexico and worldwide, as our economic and political problems continue.

    My main concern in all of this is humanitarian. With all of this fighting we’re doing with each other, no one remembers that all of this is mostly about water access. People worldwide have come up with religion, and racism, and all kinds of reasons to fight over water. Because we all need it. And because we can develop stable land with it. And because with all of our modern-technology and super-fast jets and money and oil, we humans have mostly forgotten what all of this fighting is about.

    You don’t offend me. I am disabled now but used to work in healthcare. I know that people often cross into the U.S. because they need work or help here, or because they have family, and I think I remember reading that there are about 10-15 different tribal groups who are directly impacted by our border crisis because of where the border lines were drawn, with families directly getting cut off from each other, et cetera. I know that there is a relatively small percentage of American citizens going to Mexico who are also deeply racist, but I’m also very less than honorably unaware of the exact extent to which it’s happening or exactly how it’s impacting everyone else who’s staying in that country (which is the vast majority of Mexicans),  and I’m not sure how many people are involved,  as most of them are still going to other parts of the U.S.  I know that some people go there simply to work, or to participate in relief efforts, but I can’t know what it’s like without living there. But I will tell you that this is all ultimately about water, and everything else is an excuse to fight over it, and who has access to it.

    So, try to make sure that’s always you. And the people you love and care about. Sadly, the racism and infighting are going to get a lot more people killed as global warming continues. Look at the bigger picture. Always keep water access in mind when you are thinking about where people are going 
    and why. Because fresh water can be BOUGHT with money from things like jets or oil or technology or agriculture, but if it’s 200 miles away or if it’s all salty, then you can’t use it. And people can DEFEND their homes and the places they live, but when all of these issues were starting thousands of years ago and people came up with religious and /or racial reasons to keep people away from water, they didn’t have military jets That could travel at twice the speed of sound. It just wasn’t an issue. 

    So, sone people got this little tiny patch of the desert with some oases in them, and they decided it was the Promised Land. And they did everything they could to defend it, and it was highly defensible because it was in a region where few people would attack. But because of technology today, that doesn’t all mean what it used to mean, and people still fight over race and religion. But they don’t even remember what started the fight anymore. But you’re smarter than to fall for all of that.

    The World Health Organization even ranks climate change as the number 1 threat to human life right now. It’s even above war or disease. And I know people are suffering, and I want them to stay safe as long as they can.

    So please, please, please don’t lose sight of that. All of this fighting is about water, and having access to water. Literally everything else is an excuse. People have been fighting so long they don’t even know even know why their ancestors started fighting. 

    It was over some water. 

28. I think it’s good for Americans, to live where the cost of living is less. But I think it’s bad for Mexicans because it drives up the cost of housing for them.

29. I find it kind of annoying when Mexicans complain tbh. To be fair though I believe in the free movement of peoples and that we should reduce border restrictions, so I think Mexicans should be allowed to come to America more and Americans should be allowed to immigrate  to Mexico as well.

30. I don’t really think about it outside of the old “I’m running away to mexico!” trope. You may not know but it’s incredibly common (more so in the 20th century) for American media to portray criminals or others who are fleeing something to head for Mexico for a fresh start. In music there are *lots* of old country songs that were sung from the point of view of an American man who had killed his wife or girlfriend and is fleeing law enforcement on their way to Mexico. ‘Hey Joe’ is one of the more mainstream examples, made famous by jimi hendrix.

    Maybe some of this still rings true? Maybe some real shit head Americans flee to Mexico to escape some kind of consequences from their choices and remain shit heads to Mexicans when they get there. Though I would imagine in this day and age violent criminals would probably be tracked and extradited back to the US, or would at least need to remain in hiding in Mexico.

31. A lot of folks are retired their purely due to the cost of living being so much lower.

32. My dad spends several months a year in Baja. He has been doing this fairly regularly for 20 years now. There is a community that his ex girlfriend and one of his close friends own homes at. Its in a rural area east of Cabo San Lucas and was started by several local California professors in the 1960s (his girlfriend’s dad was an original buyer). They refer to it as a ‘resort’ but its more like a bunch of camps with modest houses own them, it has maybe a mile of coastline. The nearest small town is a good 15+ miles away. A lot of the people who live there (and they do not live there full time, but some will spend months at a time there) are old, and have known the workers for decades.

    My dad will mostly stay various villages along the way between California and Cabo San Lucas for most of his time now. One he has been going to regularly and has many friends who all know him for years (the little babies he first met are now in college). He generally avoids cities and any tourist area unless he is visiting some other friend. The most touristy thing they all do is race in the Baja 1000 (My dad doesn’t race, but our friends do and he will help out as part of the crew). His favorite community he describes as a “21st Century Mayberry in Mexico”, it has a population of around 150 people (he probably personally knows 20% of the population).

    Mexico is large. Mexico has drastically better weather than most of the United States. While Mexico is going through a huge industrialization process that will require a lot of housing and services for the Mexicans working these jobs. I don’t think that we will see Americans moving to Mexico to compete for these jobs or housing in in these areas other than maybe Mexico City and that was more of a tech worker thing.

    A lot of people are looking for a low cost of area to spend their retirement years. Mexico is cheaper than pretty much anywhere in the US, and its very pleasant for retired folks and retirees spend a lot of money in Mexico. If we really wanted to do some process optimization we should figure out a scheme where medicare will pay for medical services in Mexico. It would be a money saving thing for the US and a money making thing for Mexico.

    Mexico is not overrun by NIMBYs. They can expand their housing supply and do so in retirement friendly communities. This can drastically increase the local spending in small towns that could really use it.

    I am a pro North America guy. The United States has adjusted due to Mexican migration, and Mexico can adjust to American migration. This is all part of a very long term process that will ultimately make our entire continent far wealthier in the future.

33. Personally I’m ambivalent to them as individuals, most are middle class retirees looking for a good bang for buck — and hell I’m considering using my Jamaican passport to retire on the island myself… but yeah if they refuse to integrate even partially that’s a dick move and very disrespectful.

    I have no problems with a lower income Mexican immigrant coming stateside with limited knowledge of English. Give us your poor and tired yadda yadda they’ll learn and integrate over the generations even if they keep some of their culture — and imo that’s a perfect balance, embrace your new home but remember your roots. But if you have the resources to learn the language and integrate but refuse to do so that’s not excusable.

34. I’ll probably be one of them some day. I love Mexico. Its already my second home. Its beautiful. 

35. The Americans who move to Mexico aren’t really moving to Mexico. They’re moving to super touristy, gringo parts of certain cities, which at this point might as well be extensions of America. And most of the time, they won’t leave those areas because the real Mexico, off the gringo beaten path, is scary to them. Hell, it’s kinda scary to me. I’ve been to Mexico and know a ton about the country to know that you can’t go effing around in the wrong part of Mexico or it could cost you your life. Most Mexicans in Mexico are very nice, upbeat, hardworking people, but the country definitely has its issues that it needs to resolve before I’d call it a nice place to move to, if you plan on living in actual Mexico, not gringo Mexico

36. I lived there once. I don’t have a problem with people living in other countries. I’m glad to have Mexicans here. I liked living there. Maybe one day I’ll go back.

37. Anyone immigrating anywhere should assimilate to the culture and the language, and certainly not be rude or racist to locals.

    On the other hand, I honestly cannot think of a better example of irony, if I’m being honest..