As the green card abandonment warning takes hold, legal residents living in Tijuana report falling rents and forced returns to the U.S.
The Trump administration a few months back warned green card holders living outside the U.S. or traveling out of the country for more than six months that extended departures could lead to an “abandonment of residency,” or loss of legal status.
Using biometrics and other technology, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has begun tracking non-citizens as they exit the country documenting how often people are leaving the U.S.
Many legal permanent residents who choose to live south of the border in Tijuana to take advantage of lower housing costs are apparently taking the threat seriously.
“We have seen a reduction in occupancy as American citizens and legal residents are returning to the United States. This is lowering rent prices in Baja,” said Dulce Belén Reynoso Reyes, president of the Mexican Association of Real Estate Agents in Tijuana.
She added many are wary of losing their legal status in the U.S. and feel forced to leave Mexico despite exorbitantly higher rent prices north of the border.
Overall rents in Tijuana have dropped by 10-15 percent, with Baja’s coastal neighborhoods seeing the largest impact, according to Reynoso Reyes.
“If they are paying rents in pesos or dollars, it doesn’t matter what the contract states, bottom line people are leaving.”
Reynoso Reyes did not provide specific numbers of people who have moved back to the U.S. or are planning to leave for fear of losing their legal status in the U.S.
