Hemispheric migration governance: restriction, cooperation and human rights in transit
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29105/rpgyc12.23-398Keywords:
Border externalization, human rights, migration cooperation, migration governance, securitizationAbstract
The tension between restrictive migration policies implemented by the United States and their alignment with Mexico, on the one hand, and their implications for the human rights of migrants in transit through Central America and Mexico, on the other, was examined. A qualitative design of comparative documentary analysis with an instrumental case study was employed, focused on the bilateral United States–Mexico relationship within the hemispheric migration governance system, drawing on sources from 2021–2026. It was found that border containment measures contributed to a significant reduction in irregular flows and, on certain route segments, to a partial decrease in some extreme transit risks; however, these policies displaced mobility toward less visible scenarios, strained international protection obligations, and reconfigured vulnerability under a logic of securitization and border externalization. It was concluded that the quantitative reduction of flows does not equate to a humanitarian solution and that hemispheric migration governance operates under a structural asymmetry that subordinates rights protection to border control.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Marlene Del Toro Granados, Verónica Cuevas Pérez
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Esta obra está bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 4.0 Internacional.
