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E.g., 04/16/2024
Demetrios G. Papademetriou
MPI Authors

Demetrios G. Papademetriou

Demetrios G. Papademetriou was a Distinguished Transatlantic Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, which he co-founded and led as its first President until 2014 and where he remained President Emeritus until his death in January 2022. He served until 2018 as the founding President of MPI Europe, a nonprofit, independent research institute in Brussels that aims to promote a better understanding of migration trends and effects within Europe.

Honoring the Life of Demetrios G. Papademetriou

Friends and colleagues from around the world came together in March 2022 to celebrate Dr. Papademetriou's legacy during a tribute event in Washington, DC. To watch the event video, click on the image below.

 

For more on his remarkable legacy, read the MPI statement and a collection of tributes.
To read the obituary or to leave any memories for his family, click here.

During MPI's 20th anniversary celebration in 2021, its internship program was renamed the Demetrios G. Papademetriou Young Scholars Program in honor of the career-long dedication that he exhibited in training, mentoring, and helping the careers of the next generation of migration thinkers around the world.

To support the Young Scholars program, click here.

He was the convener of the Transatlantic Council on Migration, which is composed of senior public figures, business leaders, and public intellectuals from Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia. He also convened the Regional Migration Study Group in 2011–15, an initiative that has proposed and is promoting multi-stakeholder support for new regional and collaborative approaches to migration, competitiveness, and human-capital development for the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America.

Dr. Papademetriou co-founded Metropolis: An International Forum for Research and Policy on Migration and Cities (which he led as International Chair for the initiative’s first five years and where he continued to serve as International Chair Emeritus); and served as Chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Migration (2009-11); Founding Chair of the Advisory Board of the Open Society Foundations' International Migration Initiative (2010-15); Chair of the Migration Group of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); Director for Immigration Policy and Research at the U.S. Department of Labor and Chair of the Secretary of Labor's Immigration Policy Task Force; and Executive Editor of the International Migration Review.

He published more than 275 books, articles, monographs, and research reports on a wide array of migration topics, lectured widely on all aspects of immigration and immigrant integration policy, and advised foundations and other grant-making organizations, civil-society groups, and senior government and political party officials, in dozens of countries (including numerous European Union Member States while they hold the rotating EU presidency).

Dr. Papademetriou held a PhD in comparative public policy and international relations (1976) from the University of Maryland and taught at the universities of Maryland, Duke, American, and New School for Social Research.

Bio Page Tabs

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Reports
January 2009
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Annette Heuser
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Reports
January 2009
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Madeleine Sumption and Will Somerville
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Reports
January 2009
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Aaron Terrazas
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Reports
November 2008
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Will Somerville and Hiroyuki Tanaka
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Reports
October 2008
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Will Somerville and Hiroyuki Tanaka
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Reports
April 2008
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Annette Heuser and Hans Martens
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Reports
September 2007
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Gregory A. Maniatis
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Policy Briefs
May 2007
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Jeanne Batalova and Julia Gelatt

Pages

Refugees Fotomovimiento Flickr

As Europe begins to move beyond the overwhelming flows of asylum seekers and other migrants it experienced starting in 2015, policymakers are paying significant focus to integration coupled with stepped-up enforcement. 2016 saw a wave of policy innovations facilitating integration as well as returns and deterrence, but it remains to be seen whether Europe will be able to continue and scale up this work in 2017 and beyond, as this Top 10 article explores.

Cover Top10 1Crisis

Europe's defining challenge in 2015 was the exponential growth in the number of asylum seekers and migrants arriving on its shores. The European Union and its Member States were slow to respond, and reactive when they did. As trust among Member States and between national and EU-level authorities began to erode, the European Union has found its ability to implement a comprehensive response severely handicapped.

Cover Top10 10InvestorVisas

A number of countries in 2015 redesigned their immigrant investor visa programs in response to questions about their economic benefits or allegations of fraud. The reforms have in some cases made such programs far more costly and encouraged investment in higher-risk assets. Applications for such visas have fallen signficantly in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as policymakers may have overestimated demand.

Cover Top10 3Borders UNHCR

In 2014 governments in Europe, North America, and Australia reacted to significant mixed flows of humanitarian, economic, and family-stream migrants with a range of new policies. These came as some migrants presented themselves to authorities for processing rather than trying to evade U.S. or European border controls, with the knowledge that backlogs and little political will for the removal of vulnerable populations might allow them to stay for extended periods.

Immigration flows to the United States have noticeably slowed in the last year, raising fundamental questions for policymakers and analysts about the effect the economic crisis is having on inflows and return migration. MPI's Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Aaron Terrazas assess the potential impacts by examining recent data, the likely behavior of immigrants, and immigration history.

The U.S. Congress is considering a bill that includes a points system for permanent immigration. MPI's Demetrios G. Papademetriou outlines how points systems work, which countries have used them, their political benefits, and trends in points-system use.

Virtually no country is untouched by or immune to the effects of unauthorized migration. MPI President Demetrios G. Papademetriou analyzes global estimates, causes of such flows, approaches to control, and the connection to terrorism.

MPI President Demetrios Papademetriou maps out the historic challenges and opportunities in U.S.-Mexico relations in the wake of President Bush's immigration reform proposal.

MPI Co-Director Demetri G. Papademetriou maps out the policy issues involved in balancing the interests of immigrants with those of the host society during the process of integration.

Large-scale migration from Mexico to the United States is expected to continue well into the next decade. MPI Co-Director Demetrios Papademetriou looks at attempts to move the U.S.-Mexico migration relationship from one mired in problems and recriminations to one yielding important and reciprocal economic and national security benefits.

_Refugees
Commentaries
March 2017
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou
_DutchElections
Commentaries
March 2017
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
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Commentaries
September 2016
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Susan Fratzke
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Commentaries
January 2015
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou
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Video, Audio
April 5, 2013

This discussion with Mexico's new Ambassador to the United States focused on changing dynamics in Mexico, and their implications for both Mexico and the U.S.

MI_InvestingWiselyFuture
Video, Audio
March 27, 2013

With the prospects for immigration reform greater than they have been in more than a decade and the U.S. economy slowly shrugging off the effects of the recession, the United States may be on the cusp of historic changes that make the immigration system a more effective tool for innovation, economic growth and the competitiveness of its firms—large and small. 

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Video
March 26, 2013
MPI's President, Demetrios G. Papademetriou, and the Editor-in-Chief of The American Prospect, Kit Rachlis, engage in a lively Google Hangout discussion about the policies and politics that have created the United States' antiquated, inflexible immigration system and how to create a modern-day, flexible immigration system suited for the competitiveness of the 21st century.
MI_Pitfalls
Video, Audio
March 19, 2013

This discussion covers some of the most difficult issues that must be addressed if the United States is to reform its immigration system in ways that work not only for today’s reality but tomorrow’s future.

Testimony DP Mar2013
Video
March 14, 2013
Testimony of Demetrios G. Papademetriou, MPI President, before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives.

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Testimony
March 2013

Testimony of Demetrios G. Papademetriou, MPI President, before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives.

Testimony
May 2007

Testimony of MPI President Demetrios G. Papademetriou before the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law.

Testimony
March 2004

Testimony of MPI President Demetrios G. Papademetriou before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims.

Testimony
March 2004

Testimony of MPI President Demetrios G. Papademetriou before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Testimony
February 2004

Testimony before the US Senate Judiciary Committee on Immigration, Border Security, and Citizenship.

Recent Activity

Articles

In 2014 governments in Europe, North America, and Australia reacted to significant mixed flows of humanitarian, economic, and family-stream migrants with a range of new policies. These came as some migrants presented themselves to authorities for processing rather than trying to evade U.S. or European border controls, with the knowledge that backlogs and little political will for the removal of vulnerable populations might allow them to stay for extended periods.

Reports
November 2014
This report is the final one in an MPI-International Labour Office series that examines the employment prospects of migrants in the EU (focusing on the case-study countries of the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), as well as the effectiveness of integration and workforce development policies in helping these workers overcome barriers and ascend out of low-skilled work.
Reports
September 2014
In April 2014, MPI's Transatlantic Council on Migration convened an extraordinary meeting with city-level officials from Rotterdam to discuss the potential that "urban citizenship" offers for building new identities at the local level. This Council Statement focuses on the identity crisis that many cities are facing and offers strategies to unite cities, expand services for diverse groups, and foster community cohesion.
Video
August 13, 2014
MPI researchers and representatives from London and Detroit discuss the policies and strategies used—at national and local levels—to attract immigrants into local economies.
Reports
July 2014

While cities and regions experience both the positive and negative effects of immigration firsthand, they are typically at arm’s length, at best, from the policy reins that enable and shape these movements. Immigration policies are rarely calibrated to regional, let alone local, needs. This Transatlantic Council on Migration Statement examines how policymakers at all levels can work together to get more out of immigration.

Reports
May 2014

International migration and development are inextricably linked. This Transatlantic Council on Migration statement distills the Council’s discussions on the connection between migration and development, focusing on the most promising areas for international cooperation and offering evidence-based recommendations for improving the development outcomes of migration.

Video, Audio
February 19, 2014

This discussion explores how the 2014 Greek Presidency of the European Union and the United States can work to address the challenges of managing migration while meeting humanitarian obligations and nurturing economic growth.

Video, Audio
February 7, 2014

This panel discussion offers perspectives on border policy management from leading officials in the Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. governments, and showcases the MPI book, "Managing Borders in an Increasingly Borderless World."

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