Is there a ‘Latin American’ approach to migration governance? How much do national policies converge/differ across the region today?

Abstract

Latin America has developed new mechanisms of migration governance since the turn of the century. For some, these represented a distinctive approach as, in contrast to trends in the Global North, the region put an emphasis on migrant rights, relatively open border control measures, multilateral efforts to facilitate mobility and coordinate policies, and non-criminalization of irregular migration. As migration dynamics have rapidly evolved and become increasingly complex in the last two decades (including a dramatic refugee crisis triggered by massive intra-regional displacement of Venezuelans since 2015), such approach has lately appeared less distinct from other regions and acquired new components and variants across Latin American countries. This presentation tackles such evolution, with an eye on the factors that induce or preclude policy convergence across the region. The analysis touches on several areas of migration governance, such as irregular immigration, border control, diaspora engagement policies, multilateral management of intra-regional mobility, and forced migration. Selected cases studies from Central and South America will be used to illustrate the main points.