Abstract
Ethnic and racial diversity are thought to undermine social solidarity, resulting in underfunding of public goods. The “liberal dilemma” anticipates that immigration exacerbates this problem. However, the literature on how diversity and/or immigration influence public welfare spending has not explicitly considered the possibility of denying migrants access to public services. I explore public support for limits on migrant access to a rival, excludable public good. US adults were asked to recommend criteria for state-administered college scholarship programs. Possible criteria included two kinds of favoritism for non-migrants, one targeting graduates of in-state high schools and the other US citizens and legal permanent residents. Neither state demographic context nor the ethnic composition of domestic or international migrant in-flows to various states predicts the rate at which US adults recommend state-level programs should prioritize non-migrants.