Asian Threats and Public Support for Immigration Control during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Anti-Asian Racism and Violence (Organized by Korean Society of Criminology in America (KoSCA))

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have observed an unprecedented increase of political blame on China for causing COVID-19, fear and threats of Asians, and anti-immigration sentiment. Although previous research has found Black and Hispanic threats linked to public support for restrictive immigration control, the current research addresses the role of Asian threats in immigration policy priorities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing the sample drawn from the American National Election Studies (ANES, 2020), our regression models show that perceived threats posed by Asian countries are important for the understanding of the public’s favor in restrictive immigration policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. We expand our investigation to threats posed by non-Asian countries as well as differences among racial and ethnic groups in the United States. The implications of our findings will be further discussed regarding the role of the social context, racial/ethnic attitudes, and social control of minority groups.

Authors

• Ji Hye Kim, Sogang University

• Jihye Park, University of Iowa