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Wealthy Mexicans seek parallel, safer lives in southern US

Ana Luisa Sanchez Maccise, a Mexican citizen, is neither seeking a path to US citizenship nor living a fitful undocumented existence. Yet she lives and works in Houston, where she sends her son to a local private school. She has another home in Mexico City, where her husband still works. He visits his family in Houston regularly.

Maccise is among a small but growing group of Mexican citizens who are creating parallel lives in this sprawling city north of the border. Dallas and San Antonio are other cities of choice.

Their motives are more than economic. They are also seeking a safe haven for themselves and their families, away from the threats of kidnapping, ransom and even murder that are routinely directed at wealthy Mexicans.

"Right now in Mexico City, the situation is not good because of safety problems," Maccise, 43, said. "You can be robbed anytime in any restaurant. You can't drive a nice car. You can't wear a nice watch. So I really like the US because I feel free."

Maccise lives and works in Houston on a business visa issued as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement. A treaty provision allows visas for those making a significant investment in a new business and also for those with Mexican companies doing business in the US, along with their spouses and children.

US State Department statistics, not broken down by city, show a national increase in the most popular business visa to 72,613 last year from 57,721 in 2002.

Making the move from Mexico to Houston is both a cultural and logistical challenge, and an industry of professionals has grown up around the need for real estate agents, immigration lawyers, bankers and others to ease the way.

Mariana Saldana, a broker and owner at the Uptown Real Estate Group, is in no small part responsible for Maccise's life in Houston. Saldana, 56, directed her to an immigration lawyer and helped her to rent space in the Galleria, a shopping mall in Houston, where Maccise runs a franchise of the Tane jewelry store.

Tane specializes in expensive handmade jewelry and silver and gold art from Mexico. Saldana even arranged for telephone and cable service for Maccise.

"We're one stop," she said. "If you need a Mercedes, I send you to a Mercedes dealer. A Porsche, I send you to a Porsche dealer. We're like a concierge company. We have gardeners, a pool guy, everything they need. They don't have to pick up the phone."

Saldana has helped potential buyers find private schools for their children and even called a locksmith when a client forgot her key when taking her child to a community pool.

She said 80 percent of Uptown Real Estate's business is with Mexicans who have a net worth of up to US$100 million. Many pay cash for their homes and are unaffected by market cycles.

Mexicans prefer Houston, Saldana said, because luxury homes there cost less than those in California, Miami or even Mexico City. And from Houston, there are some 40 daily flights to Mexican cities, with at least 20 to Mexico City, a two-hour trip.
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