Young Americans are heading to Mexico in search of a better life

Last week, members of Congress penned a letter urging the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Joseph V. Cuffari, to conduct an investigation of the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis – claiming Biden’s decisions regarding immigration, “have led to the worst border crisis in United States history.”

But there’s another story to be told apart from the midnight flights and separated families – new data from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) shows that it’s not just Sen. Ted Cruz flying to Mexico these days.

A growing number of young Americans and their families are leaving the United States and instead establishing roots in Mexico. In fact, according to Mexican census numbers, at least 550,000 of the 1.5 to 1.8 million U.S. citizens living in Mexico today are children of Mexicans who have returned.

Similarly, MPI President Andrew Selee believes that there is also a growing number of young families from the U.S. with fewer direct ties to Mexico that are making the move or are already settled in the country, although data is not yet available to support this claim.

Katie O’Grady, a Mexico-based relocation consultant, believes there are a many reasons why Americans would cross the Rio Grande in search for the Mexican dream.

“The main driving force for families is their overall desire to have a life well-lived, quality family time and true connections with people — to be able to walk around their community and stop and literally smell the flowers, have conversations with people and make that personal connection,” she told Mexico News Daily.

Selee also believes there are various social reasons why Americans would start new lives in Mexico.

“Americans tend to move because they like the pace in Mexico — it’s a less frenetic society. They also like the sense of community. Family is tight. Neighbors are tight. There is a code about relationships between people here that Americans find attractive and refreshing and different from where they came from,” Selee said.

The MPI president also believes the pandemic helped drive Americans south. The increased acceptability and even demand for remote work has certainly helped. 

“In the COVID world, we learned that so many jobs can be done outside of offices. That is only going to encourage more people to look at where they want to live for quality of life. I think we have seen accelerated immigration to Mexico because of the pandemic,” he said.

But Americans were leaving even before COVID-19 changed our lives indefinitely and young people like Kimberly Miles didn’t need a pandemic to open her eyes to Mexico.  On the contrary, it was Mexico that helped her deal with – and perhaps survive – the pandemic.

“Living in Mexico has restored my faith in humanity. People walk down the streets and say good morning to complete strangers. People are willing to go out of their way to help. When you see someone’s car broken down on the side of the road, people come out and help. I’ve never seen that back at home,” she said.