Predictors of attitudes toward illegal Latino immigrants

The correlates of attitudes toward illegal immigrants and responses to the well-publicized beatings of two illegal immigrants by sheriff's deputies in California were examined. In a sample of 140 university and community college students, humanitarian-egalitarian and individualistic values stereotyping of illegal immigrants, and attitudes toward legal Mexican Americans as a measure of racism served as predictors. All the predictors, with the exception of individualistic values, were significant predictors of both anti-illegal immigrant attitudes and responses to the beatings. These findings suggest that negative stereotypes about illegal immigrants, racism toward Latinos, and a relative lack of humanitarian values are significant correlates of negative attitudes toward illegal immigrants, and that these same variables are important in explaining responses to a public event theft centered around illegal immigrants.