Latin American migration governance: the politics of ambiguity and ad-hocracy

This article examines the disjuncture between normative ambition and practical implementation in Latin American migration governance. Despite the proliferation of regional frameworks, governance has shifted away from multilateral, rights-based commitments toward fragmented, security-driven approaches. Drawing on International Relations and critical migration studies, the article conceptualises this transformation through the lenses of policy ambiguity and ad-hocracy, addressing them as modes of rule rather than symptoms of institutional weakness.<br/>Through a comparative analysis of responses to the Venezuelan displacement, the Darién Gap crossing, and Central American migrant caravans, the study argues that states de-prioritise human rights-based approaches to migration governance to instead prioritise state security and sovereignty, opting for discreet and flexible policies, which undermine regional solidarity and international efforts of humanitarian responses to forced displacement, reinforcing trends of securitisation and migrant precarity.<br/>Theoretically, the article contributes to debates on regional and global migration governance by applying the concepts of policy ambiguity and ad-hocracy to the under-examined Latin American context, extending their analytical scope beyond Europe, and offering insights into the hollowing out of regional solidarity as an outcome of discretionary migration governance.<br/>