Image Credit: YURI CORTEZ / Contributor / Getty Images 
Mexico City was rocked by violent anti-American protests on Friday, as locals took to the streets and vented their anger against American visitors “stealing” their homes and “imposing their culture” on Mexico.
Protestors held placards with slogans like “Speak Spanish or get out of here!” and buildings were daubed with graffiti, including “Kill a gringo.”
Storefronts were smashed and tourists were harassed by the mob, which numbered in the hundreds.
Protestors marched to the US embassy and also occupied the city’s metro system.
In recent years, especially since 2020, there has been an influx of relatively affluent Americans into Mexico, as they seek better living and working conditions. Immigration rules allow Americans to stay in Mexico for up to 180 days without a visa.
According to AP, “Since then, rents have soared and locals have increasingly gotten pushed out of their neighborhoods, particularly areas like Condesa and Roma, lush areas packed with coffee shops and restaurants.”
AP spoke to a Mexican college student who was part of the protest.
“Mexico City is going through a transformation,” she said.
“There are a lot of foreigners, namely Americans, coming to live here. Many say it’s xenophobia, but it’s not. It’s just that so many foreigners come here, rents are skyrocketing because of Airbnb. Rents are so high that some people can’t even pay anymore.”
The irony of the protests against Americans in Mexico, when millions of Mexicans live illegally in the US, was not lost on social-media users.
“Seems a reasonable request, let’s trade. 20 million Mexicans for the few thousand Americans over there,” wrote one X user.
“It’s wild to see mexicans in mexico riot against immigration and demand enforcement, and to see mexicans in the US riot against immigration enforcement,” added another.
The Department of Homeland Security’s official X account simply responded, “Oh” to a post about the protests that showed a Mexican man waving a sign saying, “Pay Taxes, Learn Spanish, Respect My Culture.”
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