The ”them” are still “us”: A multilevel approach on the study of social boundaries towards migration in Latin America

The migration landscape in Latin America has transformed dramatically over the past decade. Once primarily a región of emigration to the Global North, Latin America is now also a region of transit, destination, return, and asylum. Since 2018, asylum applications from Cubans, Haitians, Central Americans, and Venezuelans have surged, revealing a complex range of attitudes from solidarity to xenophobia. This study employs a multilevel approach to examine how symbolic boundaries—the mental distinctions that separate "us" from "them"—are drawn differently across four migrant groups in Latin American contexts.