Historical extra-regional emigration patterns have shaped South America's focus on a human-rights approach to migration. Concern for emigrants permeates debates at the annual South American Conference on Migration (SACM), yet national legislation emphasises immigration rather than emigration. Comparing national legislation to SACM documents between 2000 and 2021, we show that countries fail to reflect the same priorities as regional agreements in their laws. The interlevel discrepancies reveal that – despite prominent roles for regional cooperation, international organisations, and global migration governance – when it comes to migration legislation in South America over the last two decades, we find sovereign law-making within national territories trumps regional agreements.