Fairweather Cosmopolitans: Origins of Anti-immigrant Sentiment in Latin America

• In Event: Anti-immigrant Sentiment, Xenophobia, and Nativism

Abstract

Domestic crises in Venezuela and Haiti have recently contributed to massive increases in intra-regional migration. Estimates indicate that over six million Venezuelans have emigrated, with more than five million relocating to other Latin American countries. These migrants face significant challenges, including rising anti-immigrant sentiment reported in destination countries. However, the origins of anti-immigrant sentiment remain understudied within the Global South (e.g., Harris et al. 2018) and in Latin America, in particular. Furthermore, it is not obvious how findings from the Global North travel to the Latin American context where cultural and linguistic differences between natives and immigrants may be less pronounced (Hainmueller and Hopkins 2014).

What explains public attitudes toward immigrants in Latin America? We argue that large inflows of immigrants dampen the effect of cosmopolitan values traditionally associated with pro-immigrant sentiment. Analyzing 18 Latin American countries from the 2019-2020 wave of the Latinobarometro survey, we find support for both the labor market competition hypothesis as well as non-material explanations for anti-immigration attitudes. However, the uneven distribution of migrant flows generated by Latin America's migration crisis has reshaped popular opinion and moderated the effects of conventional predictors of immigration attitudes. Within countries experiencing the biggest influx of migrants, our results suggest that labor market concerns have intensified while non-material factors, such as cosmopolitanism, have become less relevant. These dynamics have produced greater anti-immigrant sentiment within Latin America's major migrant-receiving countries, especially toward Venezuelan migrants.

Authors

• Brett Bessen, Tecnológico de Monterrey

• Brendan J. Connell, Lyon College

• Ken Stallman