Immigrants¿ access to public services: a political quagmire

Abstract

Smooth access to public services such as health care, education, and social benefits programs contributes substantially to immigrants¿ successful integration into host societies. However, such integration policies entail political risks whenever natives perceive governments to unfairly favor immigrants ¿ a common situation across Europe, as data from the European Social Survey suggest. Such perceptions may contribute decisively to anti-immigration attitudes and are prone to be seized upon by immigrant-bashing populists. Thus, this policy domain exemplifies the close interrelation of immigration governance and immigration politics. This paper aims to explore the dilemmas and contradictions of immigrants¿ access to social rights by focusing on the Spanish immigration regime, which bears a remarkable degree of allegiance to Universalist principles. The paper draws on survey data and focus group results that were generated in the framework of an ongoing research project on immigration attitudes (ref. CSO2017-87364-R, financed by the European Fund for Regional Cohesion and the Spanish Ministry of Science). In a first step, we illustrate the extent and nature of natives¿ perceptions of being treated unfairly by comparison to immigrants. Secondly, we explore the role of such perceptions as predictor of unwelcoming immigration attitudes, or indeed anti-immigrant sentiment. Finally, we formulate some evidence-based suggestions for policy-makers.

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