Viva la Mami - Latina Motherhood, Modern Parenting, Latina Well-Being

142. Living in Mexico: Why We Joined the Reverse Migration Wave

• Jessica Cuevas • Season 5 • Episode 142

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In this episode of the "Living in Mexico" series, I sit down with my husband to have an honest conversation about why so many people are fleeing to Mexico in 2025. We talk about being part of a massive wave of reverse migration, what it means to be children of immigrants returning to the motherland, and why the timing couldn't feel more right (or necessary).

For detailed show notes, visit vivalamami.com/episode142

What You'll Hear:

  • Where we fit as second-generation Mexican Americans in this reverse migration movement
  • Our honest take on being dual citizens and how we're different from expats
  • How the current US political climate is pushing our community out, and why fleeing to safety doesn't make us any less American

Resources Mentioned:

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Jessica:

we have been able to, uh, flee the US and go to the motherland. But we can also return. And I know that there's many, many families that are either self deporting or who have been detained and deported to go and basically be forced to move back to their motherland, uh, their own countries like Mexico. And so our perspective is very different because we did it out of choice. Yeah. Out of, I don't know. Out of privilege. Out of privilege. Yeah. Ola Ola. Welcome to the Viva La Mommy Podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Cuevas. And this is another episode of The Living in Mexico series and I have my husband with me today. Alex, if you haven't been listening or watching our episodes, uh, my husband has been here, Che. Y'all love the cheese me. And because we are specifically talking about our life here in Mexico, we are currently in Leon Guanajuato, and together my husband and I, and our two boys and Kat recently moved to Mexico from Chicago. We were both born and raised in Chicago, and because our family comes from Mexico, we were like, why not? Why don't we just move to Mexico? And obviously there have been various reasons why we decided to. Go back to the motherland, but I think as we shared a lot about our experience, whether if it was on Instagram or previous episodes, I think that there has been a big wave of people moving back to the motherland, specifically Mexico. And so as part of this week's episode, we're definitely gonna talk about why people are moving to Mexico. And I think this is a very important topic because there's various reasons why, and I think we'll be sharing a little bit more about our true reason behind it, but as well as what we've seen with other people that we know. Uh, so yeah, I don't know, Alex, we can start out about why. Did we decide to move to Mexico? First of all?

Alex:

Uh, I guess I can take that one first.'cause my reason is probably a lot shorter than yours. I

Jessica:

can go on. I know.

Alex:

Yeah, for sure. No, but for me, my biggest reason, uh, that I wanted to just be like, let's just leave our life in Chicago and come over here, was just basically the experience, right? I mean, as you, I mean, I'm not. Hope I don't sound like if I'm 60 or 70 years old. Right. But like as you get older, you start to realize that life is precious, right? So why not explore what's out there outside of your homeland? So that was my biggest reason, is just to go out and explore and, you know, while we're still young, we're still healthy. Um mm-hmm. See what's out there in Mexico. Yeah. That was my biggest reason.

Jessica:

Yeah, I, I can definitely see that. And I think because we have lived in Chicago or all our lives, I think we were ready for a fresh start, a new slate, and I think that. I think everything fell at the right place for us. And if you haven't heard about our story, please uh, listen and watch our episodes. I will link them in the show notes and, uh, that way you can kind of know the, the background behind it and our reason, reasons why we decided to move. But I think that is a really good one and for me specifically on top of that. I think for me it's. It was because of costs and trying to figure out a better way of living. Not that I'm saying that we're living this luxurious life. I think we're living pretty moderately, uh, but I think we are able to feel a little bit of freedom when it comes to going out, you know, hanging out, um, and, and really knowing that our money is going towards. Things where we don't necessarily get to complain. Mm-hmm. Or know that we will struggle, uh, from, so yeah. And, and I know that there's a lot of families right now, specifically in the United States that are struggling. I think there's just a lot of crap that is going on right now in the US and I know that we're not the only ones. Actually many families that have been reaching out to me that they have made the move or are thinking about making the move. And that is so that, so that they can have a better quality of life in a different country. Uh, because, you know, Rita, it's, it's not easy to live in the US and especially as Latinos. It's, it's been very challenging.

Alex:

Scary too.

Jessica:

It's very scary. And, and I know that. we come from a level of privilege because we have been able to, uh, flee the US and go to the motherland. But we can also return. And I know that there's many, many families that are either self deporting or who have been detained and deported to go and basically be forced to move back to their motherland, uh, their own countries like Mexico. And so our perspective is very different because we did it out of choice. Yeah. Out of, I don't know. Out of privilege. Out of privilege. Yeah. And that's what has been kind of hard for at least me, just trying to understand like. You know, um, our place, our spot here in Mexico, but also in the US and how, you know, I don't think we're affecting much, but I just think about the families

Alex:

Yeah. That are forced. I mean, getting back to that subject, we're not affecting anybody in any way. I mean, again, like if you think about gentrification, I mean the definition itself is like, wealthy people moving into a poor area, right? We're not wealthy. And we're definitely not in a poor area. So yeah. I mean, there's a lot of people here too that have welcomed us. Who weren with open arms? You, nobody, we haven't felt any hostility. I haven't, except from the government that that's a different topic for a different show. You've been that. Yeah. Which we'll definitely talk about that. Yeah. But other than that, I mean, no, I mean, I have, I, I felt nothing but warmth here from everybody.

Jessica:

Yeah. And I think people get it too. Yeah. Uh, you know, when I went to get my, uh, which is like the voting card here in Mexico, uh, when I went there to, to get mine. The lady was like, oh no. And I was like, well, and basically telling her, you know, we just decided to move to Mexico because it, it sucks over there. And she was like, yeah, I get it. I understand you're not the first person today. And granted this was like at 9:00 AM when I went. Uh, to apply for my INE and she was saying that there is basically an influx of people that are going to the INE offices and trying to get their voter cards, uh, because they're returning back, whether if they were immigrants in the US or they are children of immigrants. But it's a pretty common thing. And just hearing the stories about people that are. Fleeing to Mexico, basically. Uh, there's different reasons, but I think that we all share, um, this kind of commonality and they understand. They're like, ah, I get it. I get it. Yeah. I understand why you're coming here.

Alex:

Yeah. And just this year alone, 2025, there's been about, what was it, like 1.6 million US citizens that have. Moved here to Mexico for various reasons. Right. But that's just a quick little effect just to show you guys that mm-hmm. We're not the only ones that we won't be the only ones that relocate here. Mm-hmm.

Jessica:

Yeah. Yeah. And it makes it interesting because we're part of that 1.6 million. Mm-hmm. And I'm sure that everyone has different reasons behind it, but I think. Where does that put us though? In, in a category? We are dual citizens. Mm-hmm. Our parents we're immigrants, you know, from uh, Mexico to the us. And so it's not like we are white folks that are retired and wanna have a life here so that the quality of life is better. Mm-hmm. And taking on, you know, um, Medicare and Social Security because that's not us. Mm-hmm. And so where does that put us?

Alex:

Where category of our own. I see.

Jessica:

Yeah. And, and I'd be curious about that specific number about families who are. Second generation or you know, they're mexicanos just like us, that we're children of immigrants. Where does is there such a category, I guess? And in last week's episode we talked a lot about gentrification. And I asked out there online about whether if you think we are gentrifying or not. And so some people were like, sí, and other people were like, no, you're not. And other people were like, well actually you are repatriating, if that's a word. So we are part of like the repatriation, meaning that we're essentially doing the reverse migration. Um, and, and that is big and, and that is huge. And we are part of that group, I think. Um, but I, I think a lot of, uh, times when, when you think about categories, you know, when you think about buckets and putting people into specific things, like I don't, I haven't heard much yet about. Reverse migration in terms of like children of immigrants going back mm-hmm. To the family's motherland. You definitely hear about expats, which I hate that word. You hear about, you know, the retirees again, but it's only those white Americans that, they're the gentrifiers, I would say, I'm

Alex:

sorry, I was such a dumb phrase, expats. Right? That's right.

Jessica:

I know he needs it. Yeah. I, I, I'm not a fan of it either. And essentially you're basically immigrating to a different country. And as long as you do it correctly and you do it legally, then know that there are ways in coming to Mexico. Um, but if you're just going to Mexico and overstay your visa and everything, Hmm. Well that sounds familiar, right? And, and so, yeah. and with the whole status right now with, with the U.S., there's. I think it's just, I don't know. I feel like the US is just pushing people away, like whether if you were born there or not, you know? Yeah. Like it's just making people to go outside of the US and live outside of the us.

Alex:

Yeah. It's just, we're living in very interesting times, to say the least. Right. I mean. I don't know. I have so many, just to keep this video short, right? I mean, but I have so many thoughts, so many feelings about what's going on right now in our homeland. Right now. I still consider Chicago our home, you know? But it is just sad that you have a president that is basically turning. The whole country against each other as opposed to moving it forward. Yep. Sad.

Jessica:

It is very sad, and especially knowing that our community is being attacked

Alex:

single handedly

Jessica:

because the way that you look, because of the type of job that you have, because of the quote unquote accent that you have, or lack of English proficiency. Uh, I just hate that because the US was built because of immigrants. Like immigrants are the backbone of the US and, and it puts us in an interesting position because I don't know about you, but I've definitely have gotten a lot of just praise and comments. You know, nothing that people are saying out of, um, jealousy. Ro a lot of people are saying, man, y'all moved at the right time. Y'all moved at the perfect time because I would not wanna be here. And, and while a lot of people thought that we left because of this new administration, which it's only been how many months? And it feels like 40 years.

Alex:

It feels

Jessica:

like a long time ago. And, and yeah, so like the timing couldn't be perfect at that, like when you think about it, but it also hurts. It hurts me knowing that there's so many people like me, people in my community suffering right now in the US and I won't blame you if you decide to move. To Mexico or wherever your family's from, and you decide to go back to the motherland. Um, or if you decide to come to Mexico, even if you're not, uh, Mexicano or Mexicana, like, Hey, you're welcome here. Just make sure to do things right.

Alex:

Yeah. Even the president, shame bomb, shame bomb. She even said it too, that everybody's welcome, just like how you mentioned. That as long as you do it right. Right. Complete 180 from what the president of the United States is saying. Mm-hmm.

Jessica:

Trying to kick everyone out. Yeah. So it, it's, yeah. It, it's a full ethnic cleansing, what they're trying to do when clearly, let's think about who were the first, first people in that country. Right. But yeah, I don't wanna go on a full rant about that. Um, but needless to say that the current status of what's going on in the United States about detaining people, deporting people, just overall discrimination, like I can see why people are deciding to flee the us. F and go towards a better life. And you know, we definitely have been reflecting a lot about not just that specific topic, but also just like costs and how different it is in, um, affording a life here versus the us. You know, we are now able to have gym memberships when that was basically a luxury in the us. Like we weren't able to afford a freaking gym membership and I'm talking about Planet Fitness. Okay. Not to bash Planet Fitness, but like, I mean, we weren't, we had to prioritize on other things. This time now that we are in Mexico, we've been able to send our kids to school and

Alex:

private school and

Jessica:

it's private school, right? But tuition is significantly less than if you were to take them to daycare because technically Mateo. It is still like a daycare child, right? He's two and a half years old. He wouldn't qualify for free preschool, and that's if your state offers free preschool. Diego luckily did when he was three, uh, in CPS in the Chicago public public schools, but for preschool alone and daycare here in Mexico, it's significantly less. I mean, we're talking about thousand, a thousand

Alex:

dollars no more.

Jessica:

Well per kid. Oh yeah. So$2,000.

Alex:

Yeah.

Jessica:

Yeah. We're saving ourselves$2,000 a month on just daycare. Mm-hmm. So it just gives you perspective about the cost of living. And again, we're speaking out of privilege, right? Because you were able to keep your job, uh, and, you know, we're working remotely. I'm also working like I, I'm a contract worker and I'm able to do that. Um, and we have a rental or investment property in Chicago, and so whatever we get from the rent, you know, it applies towards our cost of living. So yes, we come from a very, um,

Alex:

privileged, privileged and

Jessica:

it's a very unique situation. I would say Ro we decided to move into a city, right, where it's pretty comparable to Chicago. I know that there's so many people who. Are fleeing to s you know, because they want a better quality of life, but they wanna have less costs and so. The good thing about Mexico is that there's a lot of options. You know, you can choose whether if you wanna move into a big city like Leon Guadalajara, Mexico City and all that, um, or you can choose like moderate, you know, kind of pueblo. So I'm thinking like. Manuel Doblado, which is the municipio where my family is from. It's a decent city. It's growing. It's booming. Yeah. It's growing. Yeah. Or it could be like our Rancho, you know where my family is from in San Jose de Otates. And that is small and that's, I mean, it's rural. It's really rural. It's Rancho. Yeah. At least where your dad's from. I mean, it's a, you have a store. Pueblo. It's a Pueblo, yeah. You have a plaza. Yeah. Ours doesn't. So the good thing is that there's different options and. If you are a child of immigrants and you are curious about like going back to where your family is from, that is even better because you could possibly have free housing, you know? Mm-hmm. With your Aita house or you know, your T's house or something like that while you're trying to situate yourself here. Uh, and so I think that's a really cool thing that we can leverage ourselves up. And if you've ever thought about the prospect of moving to Mexico, there's always a possibility. It's just a matter of thinking about, well, first of all, if I'm in a partner relationship, are we both in agreement? Mm-hmm. And then I don't know there's anything,

Alex:

no, I mean, I guess it's just a matter of personal preference, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, if you wanna move toto and you're comfortable with that type of lifestyle, by all means, go ahead. Like for us, I mean, I. I'm sorry. I mean, we, we used the word privilege a lot, right? I mean, we, we came from Chicago. I mean, we are used to accustomed to a certain life, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, we, we like to walk to places. I mean, we like to explore different places, see sites, and it is not that you don't get that in, in Ranchito, but it's, it's more so like we, we wanna see like. Old school buildings. I see. Like architect architecture as opposed to like ranch. All you seen are beautiful mountains. Right. Like goats and your typical ranch stuff. And that's something that we, I know I didn't want. Yeah. It's cool to, like, let's say like if you're having a rough week or whatever, like work in the city, go out to the, to the ranchito and then just chill out for the weekend. Mm-hmm. That, that, you know, that's something that we would do. We do. Yeah.

Jessica:

Yeah, we definitely do. Like recently we will move, we moved, we, we visited my, my aita and we did not expect a, a party on a Sunday, Sunday night, night,

Alex:

Grupo, boo

Jessica:

tequila, lots of tequila, and the kids didn't sleep well. But that's, that's how it is. I mean, it's, it's a different culture and, and that's something that if you are thinking about moving to Mexico, that you should be open about like. Not bringing your Americanism to Mexico, because

Alex:

it's a slower pace of life.

Jessica:

It is. It's so different.

Alex:

It's slower pace of life, but not when you get inside of a car. No traffic. That's a completely different story.

Jessica:

Yeah. Yeah. People just drive

Alex:

while it's over here. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Jessica:

Not as bad as like China, because I remember when I went to Beijing, people were bad. I mean, must

Alex:

travel over here.

Jessica:

No, just like for context, you know, because yeah, like people kind of respect the, the road, the rules of the road, but there's still a handful of people when you're like, there, que.

Alex:

That's debatable. I mean, I don't know. I mean, and it is my experience, I don't know.

Jessica:

And then kind of comparing what it's like to live in a city in Mexico versus ar chito like actually right now my parents are. Literally fleeing to Mexico as well. So they're also part of this wave of like people who are moving back to their own country. And literally, and, and I hate it when people s you know, when you hear comments unlike Facebook and stuff like that, like when people say, go back to your country. Yeah. And now it's like, okay, I'll go, I'll go to my country because it's way better than this country. And, and I don't think, my parents That wasn't the reason why they made the decision to move to Mexico, but they are in this new kind of stage in their lives when they want simplicity, they want. You know, space, affordability, affordability. E. They decided to leave everything behind And so when you compare their way of living. Uh, versus ours, you know, ours is very city-like. Mm-hmm. Like we have accessibility to everything, all the resources at our disposal. But my family, like my parents and my grandparents, they've been living in Mexico for like 20 plus years, um, after they retired. They have a different lifestyle. They have a different way of living. And just to give you like a cost comparison, like. Right now we are living in a rental like how I, we shared and we spend about 20,000 pesos a month.

Alex:

Roughly a thousand, 1000 1100 bucks. US, yeah.

Jessica:

US dollars. And it's a three bedroom, two and a half bathroom house. Um, it's very spacious. Yeah. As you can see, if you're watching on YouTube, like we have a big patio in the background. Uh, right now we are in the dining room, um, and there's like a. Kitchen. So it's very spacious. Um, pretty well for our family. Perro, if you were to build a house in, in Rancho. I mean, it would cost a lot of money upfront. Yeah. You do have to pay the money. You have to pay in cash to build your home, but guess what? You don't have a mortgage after that. Mm. And especially if you were given land like my dad was, that was the only kind of inheritance that he got. He was given land, and so they are building in the land that my dad was given from my grandparents.

Alex:

Yeah. And I think your grandfather shared with me that he. Paid around a little over a hundred thousand dollars to build his house. Mm. And it's a huge house.

Jessica:

Yeah. Where my grandparents live. Yeah. I mean, what is it? How many bedrooms is it

Alex:

four bedrooms?

Jessica:

Four bedrooms and two baths. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Four bedrooms, two baths,

Alex:

balcony,

Jessica:

balcony, like a Yeah, it's so pretty. It's beautiful. Yeah. Uh, and, and, yeah. And this was back then, like in 2005, I think. Yeah, 2004. So maybe the costs have risen because of like, you know, materials. I think my parents might be spending maybe like one 50 or 200 grand. I don't know.

Alex:

Shit, that's still a lot of money to, it's a

Jessica:

lot of money upfront. Upfront. But if

Alex:

you're not tied into a mortgage for 30 years, right? So, yeah, I mean, I guess it's just whatever, whatever is convenient for the individual, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, it's like you get, what is it like, like in estates, right? Like for, uh, the type of building, that type of housing that they're building. It's what? 400,000? 500,000? With the, what, like a mortgage of$2,000 every month more probably. Or drop the$200,000 right up front. And then you live No, no payments after that?

Jessica:

No, no. You might have to pay like in STOs, you know, obviously like taxes. Wait, how long is that? Yeah. How often is that? I think it's like once a year. I think my grandparents spend, like my mom told me, but it's a ridiculous amount of money. I mean, we're talking hundreds, like less. I think my mom's said like 50, like a hundred. I don't know. It's a ridiculous amount of like how minimal. Minuscule, yeah. Like the amount of taxes that one pays for their lot. Uh, and now granted, this is in, right, I don't know how much it would be in a city like Leon where you would have to pay for taxes and, and there are ways to finance a home. Like you don't have to put the money up front, like how it is to build a home. Um. And yeah, and I'm pretty sure that they, my parents could possibly finance, but that's something that they don't wanna do. Uh, but just to give you that perspective, that there are different options. There's always options. There's so many options to move to Mexico and figure out where you'd wanna live. Like right now, we are taking this year in, staying in this rental. But we are interested in buying property and seeing where we go from there.

Alex:

And if we find something good in our budget. I'm breaking this lease. I'm sorry, but I'm breaking. He's actively

Jessica:

looking.

Alex:

No, I mean, it's, it, it is what it is, right? I mean, you can't, we can't complain. We got a good house. I mean, it's a nice house, but I mean, I don't know.

Jessica:

Yeah. He's just, uh, if you haven't heard previous episodes, you know, there's reasons why he's having a hard time on. Yeah.

Alex:

It's just, I don't know. For the amount of money that we're paying, I think we're, should get something a little bit more modern, but I guess it is what it's,

Jessica:

yeah. Yeah. So if you are curious about moving to Mexico or if you've already moved to Mexico with your family, let us know. You can always reach me at podcast@vivalamami.com. Or you can send me a DM at@vivalamami on Instagram and we can just chat about your experience and if you are a descendant of Mexico. Whether if it's your parents or one of your parents who were born in Mexico and you haven't yet earned your dual citizenship, well now is your time to sign up for my masterclass. I am offering a free masterclass that's coming up on Thursday, November 13th at 7:00 PM Central Time, and it'll be live where I will be there and I will be. Kind of giving you tips and, a roadmap of what it's like in getting your dual citizenship in Mexico. This is specifically in Mexico. The holidays are coming up, so you're most likely visiting your familia in Mexico and might as well just do your dual citizenship here and it is very easy, trust me. And so if you are interested. I will be sharing the link to register in the show notes as well as in the description of this YouTube, video. And yeah, I hope you can make it.

Alex:

And one more thing I just want to add, um, one thing you want to consider while relocating is the cost, right? Mm-hmm. And, uh, if you guys are interested. We can possibly maybe just give you guys like a rough estimate as to how much we spent to relocate a family of four all the way from Chicago over here. Let Jessica know.

Jessica:

Yeah. We're more than

Alex:

happy to her share that.

Jessica:

Yeah, thanks for offering that. We definitely have like spreadsheets, we have cost comparisons. There's also a tool, uh, that I've shared in previous episodes and I can link it in the show notes as well. But yeah, I think what's important is to build community. With other people that, that have done this. You know, we, we have been in touch with so many people that have made the move to Mexico and they've given us so many great tips, so many great suggestions and recommendations, and I think our way of. Giving that back is to sharing our wisdom, our experience, because I don't like to gatekeep, I don't like to keep things on the down low, you know, on the hush hush because that's not our community, that's not our as Latinos. And so we like, you know, to chisme, we like to share overshare, and that's why we're here. So if you have any further questions or any, uh, suggestions on topics, uh, as part of the Living in Mexico series, please feel free to reach out. I'm always open to receiving that feedback. And if you still wanna have Alex on the show, let me know because I know that he's very popular.

Alex:

Oh, she's already kicking me out. No,

Jessica:

I'm not, but. All right, AMI. Well, thank you so much for listening in the next episode. Right.