Americans in Mexico: Many Americans are illegally retiring to Mexico

san miguel de allende is the ideal place for americans to retire with a mild climate direct connections to the US and healthcare far cheaper than back home at the central mexican town has a well-established expat community more than 1 million American citizens currently live in the country according to the US State Department yet Mexican immigration authorities say fewer than 20% of official permission on a tourist visa so our legal services just right now on the visa that's issued at the airport for six months just laying low and and not being high-profile is the way to survive san miguel de allende is home to 12,000 american and canadian expats who make up a tenth of this pretty colonial towns population and although many of them are here without official immigration paperwork in bringing their dollars down to central Mexico they add a significant boost to the local economy Ian Clement is an American lawyer who now faces his practice in San Miguel de Allende the Mexican government has a very empathetic viewpoint towards those people and do not just round them up and kick them out because if you are coming down here and your benign presence and all you're doing is putting money into the economy then why not have you from a legal standpoint from a tax standpoint it's a bad idea because if you do start something you know and it begins to snowball you're almost caught with your pants down because you're doing something that's obviously lucrative and so you leave yourself completely vulnerable to castigation but for those who come to Mexico to live easily many here say there are painless ways of dodging the immigration authorities we'll find you but thank you they don't get angry to the point where they say well no you can't come not like the UK despite illegal immigration between Mexico and the US becoming a divisive political topic since President Trump came to power local officials in San Miguel say they are relaxed about experts immigration status we greatly value our foreign community sama gross economy depends much upon our expert residents and we do not bother individuals who benefit our society we do what the Maxwells will do in the States you know it's an underground economy it's you know live san miguel de allende is foreign and Native communities live in peaceful coexistence but as President Trump calls for changes to international immigration and trade policy the American retirees unofficial legal status may turn into the political ace up Mexico sleeve at the negotiating table Alister bhava stock TRT world San Miguel de Allende [Music]

Channel: TRT World

Views: 756,079

Rating: 4.7437901 out of 5

Keywords: mexican americans, illegal mexicans in united states, trump immigration policy, trump immigrant policy, trump domestic policy, us mexico relations, trt world, mexico, united states

Id: GJ1rcifeFyI

Length: 3min 10sec (190 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 19 2017