Conditional love: when do we accept undocumented migrants?

How do racial and ethnic cues shape public attitudes toward undocumented migrants? Previous studies identified various factors, such as economic profiles of migrants, cultural threats, and ideology. This paper contributes to existing research and examines the role of the racial and ethnic backgrounds of undocumented migrants as well as their economic skills. Using two survey experiments conducted in the US, we investigate the conditions under which the public is more or less likely to be supportive of undocumented migrants. Our first vignette experiment demonstrates that Americans hold more favourable attitudes towards Latino/a and Mexican undocumented migrants relative to a control condition with no racial or ethnic cues, while Asian and Chinese migrants do not receive comparable favourable treatment. In our second study, where we test the roles of skill-level and race/ethnicity of undocumented migrants, the well-documented advantage of Asians in general public opinion does not appear in the context of undocumented migration. Instead, skill level emerges as the clearer predictor of support, particularly for policy support. These findings suggest that Asians are no longer more favourable in the context of undocumented migrants and that undocumented status may reshape how the public evaluates migrants along racial and ethnic lines.