Gringolandia?

I read a well written piece by author Barry Golson in the SF Chronicle today (on-line http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/11/20/EDG59LIA161.DTL), where he describes his experience of retiring in Mexico. It’s seems like a wonderful life. He took his big bucks down south and was able to build what I can only imagine is a nice house. Through his legal immigration to Mexico he also brings his retirement salary which is able to pay for things like food, health care, etc.

He says that 20,000 Gringos move to Mexico on a regular or semi-regular basis each month. I’m betting that they are all doing this legally. I just can't imagine retired teachers or bankers in their 50s and 60s hiring "coyotes"to smuggle them into Mexico. It is probably putting a strain on some of the infrastructure, but not too badly. I’m sure that the local residents are’t having to pay for the Gringos health care or for their grand kids schooling. In fact, the Gringos probably go to private clinics, not the poor ones that the populace goes to.

Mr. Golson states that 20,000 migrate south each month, that’s 240,000 per year. Let’s do some math here: what would it take for Gringos heading south to balance the illegals heading north? Hmmm, I’m no math whiz but according to my fingers and toes it would take about 50 years for a southern migration of legal migrants to meet the current number of 12 million illegals here in the US.

Of course, not all illegals are from Mexico, but the majority are. But the difference (again) is that the Gringos are taking money and basically paying their own way. That’s not happening when the illegals are crossing into the US.

What are your thoughts on this issue?