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E.g., 04/24/2024
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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Top Ten
December 20, 2016
Dawn of New Migration Reality Brings Focus on Borders, Returns, and Integration

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.

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Top Ten
December 18, 2015
Migration Crisis Tests European Consensus and Governance

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.

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Top Ten
December 7, 2015
Shine Wears Off Investor Visa Programs as Questions about Economic Benefits and Fraud Lead to Reforms

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.

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Top Ten
December 18, 2014
Border Controls under Challenge: A New Chapter Opens

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.

Feature
April 1, 2009
Immigrants in the United States and the Current Economic Crisis

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.

Feature
May 18, 2007
Selecting Economic Stream Immigrants through Points Systems

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.

Feature
September 1, 2005
The Global Struggle with Illegal Migration: No End in Sight

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.

March 1, 2004
The Mexico Factor in U.S. Immigration Reform

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.

Feature
October 1, 2003
Policy Considerations for Immigrant Integration

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.

Feature
July 1, 2002
Converging Realities of the U.S.-Mexico Relationship

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.

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Commentaries
March 2017
The Migration Crisis Is Over: Long Live the Migration Crisis
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou
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Commentaries
March 2017
The Dutch Elections: How to Lose and Still Shape the Direction of a Country—and Possibly a Continent?
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
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Commentaries
September 2016
Global Refugee Summits Offer Reasons for Both Disappointment and Hope
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Susan Fratzke
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Commentaries
January 2015
The Field of Migration Studies Loses a Giant: Graeme Hugo
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Testimony
March 2013

The Separation of Nuclear Families under U.S. Immigration Law

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

Examining Point Systems as a Method for Selecting Immigrants

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

Funding for Immigration in the President's 2005 Budget

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

The United States and Mexico: Immigration Policy and the Bilateral Relationship

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

Testimony
February 2004

Evaluating a Temporary Guest Worker Proposal

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

Recent Activity

Reports
February 2012

Rethinking National Identity in the Age of Migration (Transatlantic Council Statement)

This Transatlantic Council Statement examines both the challenge and opportunity for governments, in an era of skepticism about migration, to create a new definition of “we” based on a more inclusive idea of national identity and belonging, and to convince the broader society that investing in integration is an investment in shared futures.

Reports
December 2011

Restoring Trust in the Management of Migration and Borders (Transatlantic Council Statement)

This Council Statement for the fifth plenary meeting of the Transatlantic Council on Migration captures key elements of deliberations on the best ways to bring greater order and legality to migration, border management, and labor market systems through transatlantic cooperation.

Reports
October 2011

Shared Challenges and Opportunities for EU and U.S. Immigration Policymakers

This final report summarizes and reflects upon the key findings of the Improving EU and U.S. Immigration Systems: Learning from Experience comparative research project undertaken by MPI and the European University Institute through a grant from the European Commission.
Reports
September 2011

The Governance of International Migration: Defining the Potential for Reform in the Next Decade (Transatlantic Council Statement)

This Council Statement from the sixth plenary meeting of the Transatlantic Council on Migration provides an overview of the Council’s discussions on how states can work together to move beyond the mantra of “global governance,” and begin taking concrete actions in pursuit of a shared agenda of safe, secure, legal, and orderly migration.

Audio
June 13, 2011

Migration and Great Recession: The Transatlantic Experience

This Migration Policy Institute event was held to discuss the release of MPI's book, Migration and the Great Recession: The Transatlantic Experience, which reviews how the financial and economic crisis of the late 2000s marked a sudden and dramatic interruption in international migration trends.

Reports
June 2011

Opportunities for Transatlantic Cooperation on International Migration

The EU-U.S. relationship is one of the most significant partnerships among wealthy nations. Interconnections between the two on migration issues make dialogue necessary and inevitable, as each relies on each other to attain a number of policy objectives, most clearly in the case of travel and border security.

Reports
June 2011

The Role of Immigration in Fostering Competitiveness in the United States

While aspects of the U.S. immigration system facilitate newcomers’ contributions to economic growth and competitiveness, others undermine them. Reforms are needed to enhance the job-creating power of U.S. employers and strengthen the system’s ability to select effectively from the large pool of foreign workers.
Reports
June 2011

Rethinking Points Systems and Employer-Selected Immigration

Two competing models for selecting economic-stream immigrants are now prevalent in advanced industrialized economies: points-based and employer-led selection. Increasingly, however, hybrid selection systems are being created, implementing best practices from each selection process.

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