What Determines Colombian Policy Preferences on Venezuelan Forced Migration?

What determines individuals’ preferences for different policy responses to forced migration in the Global South under conditions of crisis, and what does this imply for migration policymaking aiming to promote greater cohesion? Migration has been central to electoral shifts in many receiving countries, arguably by eroding trust in governments who are perceived to be ineffective. Yet most existing work examining public preferences for forced migration policies has focused on high-income destination contexts—particularly around the European “migration crisis” of 2015. This presents limitations for developing better theoretical and empirical understanding of how migration policy preferences form and change. We address these problems by considering the case of Venezuelan migration to Colombia, currently one of world’s largest and fastest-growing migratory flows. Using an pre-registered online conjoint survey experiment, to be fielded in Colombia in January- February 2021, we identify Colombians’ preferences for policy “packages” comprising variations in numerical limits, dispersal, access to welfare and labour markets, and return requirements. We particularly focus on the extent to which respondents’ prioritisation of humanitarian or economic concerns moderates these preferences, while also measuring features including respondents’ levels of trust in government, perceptions of how many Venezuelans reside in Colombia, and personal contact with Venezuelans. Our results aim to contribute to better theorisation about the determinants of immigration policy preferences beyond Western destination countries, and will have implications for how policymakers think about—and act upon—the issue in the future.