About the Transatlantic Council on Migration

The Transatlantic Council on Migration (TCM) is a unique deliberative body that supports pragmatic and evidence-based policymaking on migration and immigrant integration issues. Through rigorous research, high-level convenings, and tailored policy advice, the Council provides policymakers and stakeholders with essential analysis and cutting-edge policy recommendations to help tackle the most vexing policy questions.

Launched in 2008, the TCM is an MPI initiative that was first convened by MPI’s founding President, Demetrios G. Papademetriou. The Council’s work is generously supported by the governments of Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway, and Sweden, the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, and the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

Mission

The Council aims to help inform the transatlantic migration and immigrant integration agenda and promote better-informed policymaking by proactively identifying critical policy issues, analyzing them in light of the best research, and bringing them to public attention. At the same time, it aims to serve as a resource for governments as they grapple with the challenges and opportunities associated with international migration. The Council’s goal is to support pragmatic and evidence-based policymaking that can adapt to evolving needs and changing political realities. 

Approach

To achieve this, the Council conducts high-quality independent, evidence-based research drawing on some of the world’s top experts; convenes high-level, off-the-record forums to encourage candid debate between political leaders, policymakers, experts, civil-society leaders, and private-sector officials; and provides tailored advice to senior political leaders, including implementable policy ideas and the communications tools to speak persuasively about them.

The Council explores a wide range of policy fields, including:

• Rethinking how to provide refugees with effective access to humanitarian protection, including exploring the future of territorial asylum
• Developing effective approaches to borders and mobility through improved migration management and border procedures and supporting returns and reintegration
• Exploring the role of international cooperation in addressing shared challenges and strengthening migration governance
• Restoring public trust on migration by better understanding what drives anxiety and anticipating flashpoints of tension 
• Fostering social cohesion amid large-scale population change through integration policy design and framing that focuses on fairness and functionality
• Adapting labor migration and labor market integration policies for an era of profound labor market, demographic, and economic changes
• Examining the complex links between migration and development including opportunities to invest in building resilience to climate change and preventing forced displacement. 

History

The Council succeeds the Transatlantic Task Force on Immigration and Integration, launched in 2006 by MPI and the Bertelsmann Stiftung.

Council Statements

Since its inception, the Council has released a statement after each convening, summarizing some of the key discussion points and findings to come out of the meeting. All Council Statements are available here. 

Meetings

The Council holds one high-level in-person plenary meeting a year, alongside virtual meetings and research briefings for member governments to share state-of-the-art thinking on critical policy and political developments. All meetings are conducted under the Chatham House Rule.