How blurred is European public opinion between legal versus illegal immigrants?

Abstract

Although European public opinion on immigrants has been monitored closely in recent years, there is little work that differentiates attitudes towards legal versus illegal immigrants. This study explores variations in public attitudes in Europe between legal and illegal immigration through multivariate hierarchical modelling. It shows that Europeans' anti-immigrant attitudes are rooted in their concerns more about illegal immigrants. The results also indicate that public opinion in countries with larger immigrant populations is concerned significantly about the illegal immigrants.