Reducing Citizen Support for State Violence against Undocumented Immigrants

• In Event: The Politics of Migration in Latin America

Abstract

Social scientists have long studied how to improve intergroup relationships, including
strategies to counter anti-immigrant sentiment. This article contributes to this scholarship
by examining a salient but understudied topic: how to reduce citizen support for the use
of state violence against undocumented immigrants—at a moment when governments
across the world increasingly respond to immigration with militarization, often with the
support of local populations. Using original data from a panel survey in Mexico, we first
document that stereotypes linking immigrants to criminality are associated with negative
emotions and support for anti-immigrant state repression. We then examine whether
interventions that elicit emotions favoring victims over perpetrators improve attitudes.
Compared to a control condition, we find that real-life campaigns combining factual
information about the rule of law with originally-collected immigrant testimonies on
experiences with repression credibly evokes compassion towards victims and anger
against perpetrators, prompting condemnation of state violence and demands for justice.

Authors

• Abby B. Cordova, University of Notre Dame

• Natan Skigin, Harvard University