US nationals living in Mexico continues to surge

(NewsNation) — As officials at the U.S. southern border continue to cope with an influx of migrants flooding into the country from Mexico, data indicates that more Americans are also crossing over in the other direction.

Twice as many U.S. nationals migrated into Mexico over the first four months of 2024 as they did over the same period last year, according to data provided by the Mexican government and reviewed by Newsweek.

Newsweek reported that 625 U.S. residents migrated to Mexico between January 1 and April, compared to 323 during the first four months of 2023. Of those who made the move south, 407 were men compared to 218 women.

Another published report indicated that the number of Americans living permanently in Mexico has jumped by 69.9% between 2019 and 2022. In 2022 alone, the number of permits that grant Americans the right to reside in Mexico was the highest it has been since 2013 after 20,374 U.S. nationals made the move south, the report indicated.

The surge of southern movement comes as immigrants who are illegally crossing into the U.S. continue, which led President Joe Biden to sign an executive order that meant to secure the border in an issue that may prove pivotal in November’s general election.

However, while Biden hoped the executive order would slow the number of immigrants illegally crossing into the U.S. and encountering Border Patrol agents, encounters have continued, with up to 3,500 taking place daily since Biden signed the order, NewsNation has reported.

A Yahoo Finance report in May indicated that an estimated 1.6 million Americans live in Mexico, where citizens from countries — including the United States — can live without a visa for up to six months.

The report cited cheaper rents, a lower cost of living, ample opportunities for employment, cheaper health care and other factors as why more Americans are choosing to make the move. Like those who cross into the U.S. searching for a better life or seeking asylum from countries like Venezuela and other places south of the border, Americans do so in their own treks across the border.

“We are immigrants. And I think it’s disingenuous to call us anything else,” former San Diego resident Jym Varnadore told The Guardian after he and his wife moved south. “When I decided that I wanted to move out of the U.S., it was eyes wide open with that word in mind. I am an immigrant.”

While Mexico has long been a sought-after vacation spot for Americans over the years, tourism in the country among U.S. residents jumped more than 17% in 2022 from the previous year with more than 33 million people vacationing south of the border, the Yahoo Finance report indicated.

The Washington Post reported in 2019 that the number of U.S. residents migrating to Mexico had quadrupled since 1990. While many have traveled south to retire, the report indicated that 600,000 of those moving to Mexico were kids born in the States after their Mexican-born parents had moved their families across the border.

At the time, the newspaper reported that if statistics of U.S. residents migrating to Mexico were accurate, the surge was likely larger than the number of people from Mexico crossing into the United States.

“It’s beginning to become a very important cultural phenomenon,” Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister, told the Post in a 2019 interview.

Once in Mexico, those who have migrated south are bolstering local communities by renovating historic homes while also spending their money in their new communities, which improves the country’s economy, the Post reported.

While the surge continued at a time when former President Donald Trump continued to decry the number of immigrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico, officials from the country said their attitude never changed about the number of Americans who moved south in search of a better life.

“Despite the fact Donald Trump insults my country every day, here we receive the entire international community beginning with Americans with open arms and hearts,” San Miguel Mayor Luis Alberto Villareal told the Washington Post in 2019.