Name: American “Digital Nomads” Swarm Mexico City, Angering Locals | The Daily Show
Uploaded: 2026-02-21T04:02:24.000Z
Duration: 6 min 34 s
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And in recent years, migrants have gone through hell, crossing borders, risking life and limb to achieve that American dream here in Mexico City.

So I sat down with one of these brave migrants who ventured here in search of a better life.

Henley is something called a digital nomad.

A group of wanderers who work remotely in foreign countries.

And they've been pouring into Mexico City by the thousands, bringing the hard working mentality that immigrants are known for.

Usually wake up around 9, 9:30, maybe 10.

Usually walk around the park, get a coffee, dance with some Taylor Swift, come back, work for a few hours on my computer.

I do marketing for a social media analytics company.

You can just go out, order as many drinks as you want, and

your bill's like 70 bucks for the whole night.

I can see why they risk so much to come here, but is this American welcome in Mexico?

I hit the streets to ask real, real Mexicans what they think.

How do you feel about digital nomads in Mexico City?

So how many generations has your family been here?

I couldn't find a single Mexican, but the American immigrants were taking over everything.

Mexico City, where another protest against unaffordable housing and gentrification took place over the weekend.

Residents there saying some neighborhoods that are popular with digital nomads are leading to rising costs making their own neighborhoods too expensive for them to live.

I went to an open house to talk to a realtor about the impact these immigrants were having on the housing market.

Americans were renting two bedroom apartments like this for only $600 a month.

I take it you're interested in the lease.

Would you like me to send over the papers?

But I still had to meet with an anti immigration activist, so I invited her to my new perspective.

Probably so she could harass digital nomads without getting doxxed.

Okay, Carla, let's get down to what's really important.

I'm thinking of relocating and I want to really love it.

You come in here with dollars and prices up because we cannot compete with that.

And at the same time, there have been many cases of eviction of places to be turned into kind of like this.

Airbnb's Carla was clearly giving some get off my lawn energy.

Even the culture itself is changing at its core.

Sometimes you do hear more Spanish in Brooklyn, you know, than you do here in Condesa.

Now, is that a cool neighborhood where there's matcha places?

One of the main issues is that, like la salsas jiano pican, like, salsas are not spicy anymore because now they're catering to that gentrified palate.

And I'm not arguing, I'm just saying a gentrified palate is the reason we do have the culinary delicacy of ranch.

I want to be appreciative of your cultural traditions of ranch.

There's always going to be that exchange of cultures and migration of movement.

We just want you to do it in a way that you're not making us lose our homes.

Okay, that actually sounds reasonable, but

is this message from the protesters getting through to Henley or is she guzzling down enough tequila to drown it out?

Most of our friends that are from here are doctors or lawyers or business owners.

And from what I've heard from them, it's generally more of the low income people that are protesting.

It is heartwarming to know that at least we're not gentrifying rich people out of their neighborhoods.

How should these digital nomads behave so that these gringos can turn into gring stays?

Try and learn some Spanish and start paying taxes.

I'm not paying Mexican taxes because I pay American taxes and I don't have legal status here.

The point is to contribute to the people and the infrastructure in which the city that you live.

But TPH is so much paperwork, so I get it.