Exploring the Migrant Deservingness Gap

In her talk, Kris-Stella Trump explores how migrants tend to be perceived as less deserving than native-born citizens when it comes to welfare state benefits. The difference in attitudes toward otherwise similar native-born citizens and migrants has been termed the migrant deservingness gap. This paper examines whether the deservingness gap can be closed by conducting survey experiments in the relatively unique American context, where it is possible to vary migrant status without varying ethnicity. The first experiment shows that, even when ethnicity is held constant, hardworking, recently arrived migrants are viewed as less deserving than Americans. The second experiment explores whether signaling an intent to stay long term mitigates the gap; it does, but only partially. The paper concludes that the migrant deservingness gap can be meaningfully reduced—but not eliminated—by signaling a strong work ethic and an intent to stay long term.