Mārtiņš Kaprāns, PhD Andris Saulītis, PhD
Perception of immigrants and immigration in Latvian society
In recent months, the EU Member States bordering Belarus have faced thousands of migrants stranded on the EU’s external border being used as a political weapon. Responding to EU sanctions, authoritarian leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has organised and escorted migrants to the borders of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland from the Middle East (primarily Iraq and Syria). While security experts call this a form of hybrid warfare, it has also triggered different responses in the societies of targeted countries. The goal of this report is to examine the attitude of Latvian society towards immigration in general and illegal immigration from Belarus in particular.
