Hemming Close. A Comparative Analysis of Comparative Refugee Regularization Policies

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 06. Immigration bureaucracies

Abstract

Refugee migration and regularization are among the most contested topics of the global politics, attracting much scholarly attention. Literature is strained in simplistic notions that fail to analyze migration regularization as complex policies, and see right-wing governments as purely anti-immigrant, and so less likely to implement refugee regularization. This paper seeks to recalibrate our theoretical understanding of how Global South states deal with large numbers of asylum seekers, showing that regularization policies are complex policy tools. This article argues that right-wing governments can strategically appropriate aspects of international refugee law to consolidate sovereign control rather than to expand legal protection. Using the cases of Colombia and Türkiye we show that by designing national regularization regimes that emulate key features of the international system, such as documentation, status, and protection, without formally invoking refugee law, these governments redefined protection as a discretionary act of governance. This approach allowed them to claim compliance with international norms while maintaining the authority to determine and revoke eligibility, ultimately transforming refugee policy into a tool of state control and political legitimacy rather than legal obligation.

Authors

• Andrés Sebastián Besserer Rayas, El Colegio de Mexico

• Sevin Gulfer Sagnic, University of California-San Diego