Empathy and attitudes toward protecting migrants from criminal violence

Abstract

Migrants in Latin America are increasingly vulnerable to organized crime violence while en route to their destination. Public opinion regarding how to address this problem varies. While many residents of countries along migration routes support policies protecting migrants from organized crime, others oppose them. What explains this variation? To investigate this situation, we draw on nationally representative survey data from one of Latin America's most important migrant corridors, Mexico, where sustained criminal violence makes migrants vulnerable to criminal predation en route. We integrate insight from theories about helping refugees amid political violence with studies about aiding migrants amid peace to develop and test hypotheses about an understudied research phenomenon, protecting migrants amid large-scale criminal violence. We argue that attitudes toward protecting migrants are influenced by feelings of empathy. We test hypotheses related to two conduits of empathic perspective taking—crime victimization and imagining one could become a victim in the future. We find these channels of perspective taking are positively associated with support for migrant protective policies among crime victims and nonvictims alike. Our research reveals new information about attitudes toward immigration policy in criminally violent contexts and advances knowledge about the public endorsement of policies to preserve migrant rights and dignity.