Transatlantic Council on Migration

Commentaries

March 2024

As Europe and the United States Face Similar Migration Challenges, Spain Can Act as a Bridge

Image of female worker at the Boqueria market in Barcelona making a crepe

Marcel Crozet/ILO

Spain and the United States both receive their greatest number of immigrants from Latin America, and have worked collaboratively together on displacement crises and other migration issues. As shared immigration challenges dominate debate on both sides of the Atlantic, Spain can serve as a vital bridge in the policy conversation, this commentary notes.

Reports

March 2022

The Central Role of Cooperation in Australia’s Immigration Enforcement Strategy

iStock.com/Михаил Руденко

Cooperation with other countries has become a central part of Australian border enforcement. Partnerships with countries such as Indonesia, Cambodia, Nauru, and Papua New Guinea have helped Australia curb irregular maritime migration, but also come at significant costs. This report explores the current and future role of cooperation in Australian immigration enforcement policy.

Reports

March 2022

The Challenge of Coordinating Border Management Assistance between Europe and the Maghreb

Vehicles drive down a road near the Tunisia-Libya border with the sun in the background

IOM/Renato Fogal

To address cross-border challenges, the European Union and its Member States have increasingly partnered with neighboring countries, with those in the Maghreb region of northern Africa playing a particularly important role. This report examines the border security situation in the Maghreb and European efforts to work with Maghrebi partners to strengthen border management. It finds a mismatch in priorities stymies cooperation.

Reports

January 2022

Coming Together or Coming Apart? A New Phase of International Cooperation on Migration

At least 20 flags of different countries fly in the wind outside of two large buildings

Faced with the pandemic and its economic fallout, many countries have looked inward. Yet the nature and scale of the crisis has vividly illustrated the necessity of working across borders to address transnational challenges. This Transatlantic Council on Migration statement examines how the context for international cooperation has shifted since the Global Compact for Migration was adopted, and reflects on a way forward for migration cooperation.

Reports

January 2022

The Winding Road to Marrakech: Lessons from the European Negotiations of the Global Compact for Migration

People walk along the road to the Menara Gardens in Marrakech, Morocco

Eloi_Omella/iStock.com

In the months leading up to the adoption of the Global Compact for Migration in 2018, what had been a quiet negotiation process suddenly became front-page news, drawing unprecedented public attention and sparking protests across Europe. This report explores how the compact negotiations triggered a multilayered institutional and political crisis in the European Union, and how this breakdown continues to affect EU external migration policy.

Policy Briefs

September 2021

Migration Management and Border Security: Lessons Learned

Glenn Fawcett/CBP

What strategic lessons can be learned from the migration- and border-management challenges North America and Europe have faced in recent years? This reflection by a former high-ranking homeland security official explores a range of timely issues, including the need to rethink multilateralism and improve international cooperation, address migrant smuggling, and engage in advanced planning to avoid future crises.

Recent Activity

Reports September 2016 Protection on the Move: Eritrean Refugee Flows through the Greater Horn of Africa By Christopher Horwood and Kate Hooper	Reports September 2016 Resolving Policy Conundrums: Enhancing Humanitarian Protection in Southeast Asia By Marie McAuliffe
Reports September 2016 The Evolving Approach to Refugee Protection in Turkey: Assessing the Practical and Political Needs By Metin Çorabatır	Commentaries September 2016 The UN Refugee Summit: What Can Be Achieved? By T. Alexander Aleinikoff
Reports September 2016 Building Livelihood Opportunities for Refugee Populations: Lessons from Past Practice By Karen Jacobsen and Susan Fratzke	Multimedia July 14, 2016 Beyond Brexit: The Policy and Political Lessons for Immigration-Anxious Countries
Reports July 2016 Understanding and Addressing Public Anxiety About Immigration (Transatlantic Council Statement) By Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan	Commentaries June 2016 When the Dust Settles: Migration Policy after Brexit By Will Somerville

Pages

Reports June 2016 Understanding the Creation of Public Consensus: Migration and Integration in Germany, 2005 to 2015 By Friedrich Heckmann	Reports May 2016 Maintaining Public Trust in the Governance of Migration By Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Reports May 2016 Engaging the Anxious Middle on Immigration Reform: Evidence from the UK Debate By Sunder Katwala and Will Somerville	Policy Briefs April 2016 Managing Religious Difference in North America and Europe in an Era of Mass Migration By Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Richard Alba, Nancy Foner and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
Reports March 2016 Spain: New Emigration Policies Needed for an Emerging Diaspora By Joaquín Arango	Reports February 2016 The Germany-Turkey Migration Corridor: Refitting Policies for a Transnational Age By Yaşar Aydın
Reports February 2016 Emigration from Portugal: Old Wine in New Bottles? By David Justino	Reports February 2016 Emigration Trends and Policies in China: Movement of the Wealthy and Highly Skilled By Biao Xiang

Recent Activity

Reports

September 2016

Protection on the Move: Eritrean Refugee Flows through the Greater Horn of Africa

Even in a region characterized by mobility, Eritrean refugees stand out for the frequency and distance of their onward movement. With more than 411,000 Eritreans in refugee-like situations, this report outlines how they access protection, the routes they take, and how their high rates of mobility challenge traditional concepts of refugees as static populations and raise questions about how to provide effective protection.

Reports

September 2016

Resolving Policy Conundrums: Enhancing Humanitarian Protection in Southeast Asia

Human displacement, asylum movements, refugee and stateless populations, and irregular labor migration flows have long posed challenges for Southeast Asia. This report analyzes migration flows in and through the region and the policy challenges and responses to these flows, particularly the May 2015 humanitarian crisis resulting from the maritime migration of Rohingya and Bengalis in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.

Reports

September 2016

The Evolving Approach to Refugee Protection in Turkey: Assessing the Practical and Political Needs

Turkey hosts more refugees than any other country, having taken in more than 2.7 million Syrians since 2011. Despite Turkey’s generous humanitarian approach, long-term integration prospects for these refugees remain limited. This report assesses the current policy approach to managing the refugee influx and asks what is needed to ensure the long-term stability and success of both refugees and their host communities.

Commentaries

September 2016

The UN Refugee Summit: What Can Be Achieved?

The United Nations will convene a summit on large movements of migrants and refugees on September 19^th in New York. Though the summit itself is not scheduled to produce significant new commitments, it sets the stage for a process that could prove tremendously important, as former Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees T. Alexander Aleinikoff explores in this commentary.

Reports

September 2016

Building Livelihood Opportunities for Refugee Populations: Lessons from Past Practice

With the reality that a sizeable share of refugee situations can continue for many years, if not decades, there is growing focus on ways to better integrate refugees into countries of first asylum, particularly by ensuring they have access to livelihoods and economic opportunities. This report explores the pitfalls and promise of livelihood programs.

Audio, Webinars

July 14, 2016

Beyond Brexit: The Policy and Political Lessons for Immigration-Anxious Countries

The UK vote to exit the European Union has given new momentum to euroskeptic, anti-immigration movements elsewhere. Experts discuss the political and policy lessons that can be learned from Brexit and applied to debates in Europe and North America, including how to address public anxiety over immigration and identity while managing migration in a globalized economy.

Reports

July 2016

Understanding and Addressing Public Anxiety About Immigration (Transatlantic Council Statement)

What factors are fueling rising public anxiety over immigration seen in Europe and North America? This Transatlantic Council report outlines and analyzes the factors that can set the stage for such public unease—some of which have their roots outside of immigration policy per se, and are instead deeply embedded in the global, national, and local contexts within which migration occurs—and offers policymakers strategies to respond.

Commentaries

June 2016

When the Dust Settles: Migration Policy after Brexit

While the political and economic ramifications of the UK vote to quit the European Union hit with full force within hours, it will take far more time to sort out what Brexit means for migration policy. In the short term, the rights of EU nationals living in Britain are the most pressing, with border-control negotiations and future immigration levels also high on the agenda. Against a backdrop of deep public skepticism, this commentary suggests the next government should underpromise and overdeliver.

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