Mexico City residents aren’t happy with Americans that have moved to their city and made things more expensive, demanding they leave, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
A growing number of Americans from areas like Silicon Valley and Brooklyn, New York, have flocked to the city, taking advantage of its beauty and cheap rent, according to the LA Times. The issue is expected to worsen with rising inflation as more Americans look for affordable alternatives.
“We’re the only brown people. We’re the only people speaking Spanish except the waiters,” writer and university professor Fernando Bustos Gorozpe, 28, said, according to the LA Times.
“We’re just seeing Americans flooding in. It’s people who maybe have their own business, or maybe they’re thinking of starting some consulting or freelance work. They don’t even know how long they’re going to stay. They’re completely picking up their entire lives and just moving down here,” The head of Welcome Home Mexico, an organization that helps with relocation, Alexandra Demou said, adding that she gets 50 calls a week from people considering making the move, the LA Times reported.
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A local business owner who moved to Mexico City, Dan Defossey, recognized that “Mexico is not cheap for Mexicans.”
“Americans can come here, and they can afford everything and live like kings and queens,” Defossey told the LA Times.
There are 1,600,000 U.S. citizens living in Mexico, a leading destination for U.S. travelers going abroad, according to the State Department. Americans are permitted to stay in Mexico for up to six months, according to the Mexican government.
“I came for a new set of possibilities for how I experience my life and what I get to create in it. I feel like this city has everything I need to build a life of creativity, connection, adventure and stability,” Sarah Lupton, 35, who’s from North Carolina said, according to the LA Times.
A local group recently hosted a “places we have lost to gentrification, touristification and forced displacement” walking tour of Mexico City, according to the LA Times.
“Our homes now house digital nomads,” a flier for the event read, according to the LA Times.
Posters reading “New to the city? Working remotely? You’re a fucking plague and the locals fucking hate you. Leave.” were also recently posted around the city, the LA Times reported.
The average local salary is $450 a month and $2,000 can afford someone a penthouse in Mexico City, according to the LA Times.
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