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Fearing the “Nicas”: Perceptions of Immigrants and Policy Choices in Costa Rica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2018

Mary Fran T. Malone
Mary Fran T. Malone*
Affiliation:
Associate professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire.
*
Mary.Malone@unh.edu
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Abstract

Do attitudes toward immigrants shape public policy preferences? To answer this question, this article analyzes a prominent example of South-South migration: the Nicaraguan immigrant community in Costa Rica. Over the past two decades, Costa Rica has experienced extensive socioeconomic changes, and Nicaraguans have been frequent scapegoats for the fears and worries generated by these changes. Relying on the 2014 AmericasBarometer survey, this analysis finds that respondents who perceive immigrants as an economic threat are significantly more supportive of punitive crime control policies. Attitudes toward immigrants were also significantly linked to support for government policies to reduce income inequality. However, given the historically strong support for the Costa Rican social welfare state, attitudes toward immigrants did not significantly affect support for government services.

Keywords

immigrationcrime controlsocial welfareNicaraguaCosta Ricapublic opinion
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 1 - 28
Copyright
© 2019 University of Miami 

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