E.g., 07/22/2026
E.g., 07/22/2026
Susan Fratzke
Experts & Staff
Photo of Susan Fratzke

Susan Fratzke

Senior Policy Analyst

[email protected]
49 1516 5601336 | + 1 202 266-1927

@ekztarf

Susan Fratzke is a Senior Policy Analyst with MPI’s International Program, based in Germany, where she conducts comparative research on asylum policy, forced migration, and refugee resettlement and complementary pathways.

Ms. Fratzke has authored or contributed to numerous reports assessing the role of refugee pathways and sponsorship in addressing humanitarian needs and displacement. Her work conceptualizing the role of sponsorship in developing humanitarian pathways has been widely cited internationally in research and policy documents.

She also leads work on national asylum systems and the role of international and regional cooperation in maintaining access to protection in response to cross-border humanitarian displacement. She managed an MPI-Robert Bosch Stiftung initiative that examined ways to strengthen national asylum systems worldwide. She has also been a core contributor to MPI’s longstanding work on the Common European Asylum System (CEAS).

Ms. Fratzke has worked for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration in Brussels and Washington, DC, and as a coordinator for an adult literacy program serving resettled refugees in Minnesota. She holds an MA in German and European studies, with a concentration in European migration policy, from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She also earned a certificate in refugees and humanitarian emergencies from the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown.

Bio Page Tabs

Cover image for From Exile to Return
Reports
April 2026
From Exile to Return: Rebuilding Lives and States after Conflict
By  Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Susan Fratzke
Cover image for Small Boats, Big Stakes
Policy Briefs
June 2025
Small Boats, Big Stakes: Options for a UK-EU Deal on Migration and Asylum
By  Meghan Benton, Susan Fratzke and Nurbanu Hayır
Cover image for Complementary Pathways: Key Factors in Future Growth
Reports
December 2024
Complementary Pathways: Key Factors in Future Growth
By  Susan Fratzke and María Belén Zanzuchi
Cover image for Managing International Protection Needs at Borders
Reports
July 2024
Managing International Protection Needs at Borders
By  Lucía Salgado, Susan Fratzke, Lawrence Huang and Emma Dorst
Cover image for The End of Asylum?
Reports
July 2024
The End of Asylum? Evolving the Protection System to Meet 21st Century Challenges
By  Susan Fratzke, Meghan Benton, Andrew Selee, Emma Dorst and Samuel Davidoff-Gore
Cover image for Expanding Protection Options?
Reports
January 2024
Expanding Protection Options? Flexible Approaches to Status for Displaced Syrians, Venezuelans, and Ukrainians
By  Andrew Selee, Susan Fratzke, Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Luisa Feline Freier
Cover image for From Safe Homes to Sponsor policy brief
Policy Briefs
October 2023
From Safe Homes to Sponsors: Lessons from the Ukraine Hosting Response for Refugee Sponsorship Programs
By  Susan Fratzke, Viola Pulkkinen and Emma Ugolini
Cover image for Humanitarian Pathways for Central Americans
Policy Briefs
May 2022
Humanitarian Pathways for Central Americans: Assessing Opportunities for the Future
By  Susan Fratzke and Andrea Tanco

Pages

A small boat flying the Turkish flag moving through the sea.
Feature
June 18, 2026
Countries Are Pushing Borders Outward to Expand Deterrence and Protection Alike

Previously niche strategies of recruiting partner countries to help manage irregular migration have become mainstream. Governments in multiple migrant-receiving countries have engaged other countries to screen, detain, remove, or otherwise transfer migrants elsewhere—in effect pushing the border outwards. While some externalization approaches have been criticized, the range of models is more nuanced than is commonly understood.

Syrian family on a plane
Top Ten
December 13, 2017
In Wake of Cuts to U.S. Refugee Program, Global Resettlement Falls Short

The global refugee resettlement landscape changed dramatically in 2017, as the United States began to step back from its role as global leader on resettlement. The Trump administration reduced the 2018 refugee admissions ceiling to the lowest level since the program began in 1980. While other countries increased their commitments or launched new programs, this was not enough to make up for the gap left by the United States.

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.

Top Ten
December 17, 2015
Displacement Reaches Record High as Wars Continue and New Conflicts Emerge

Global displacement reached a new high with nearly 60 million people worldwide displaced internally or externally in the greatest number since record-keeping began. The trend continued in 2015 as conflicts in places such as Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen drove millions of people to leave their homes and seek refuge in other communities or across borders.

Feature
September 24, 2015
Europe’s Migration Crisis in Context: Why Now and What Next?

As Europe struggles to reach a consensus on how to respond to the refugee crisis, the seemingly unending flow of migrants and refugees arriving on its shores is bringing national asylum systems to their breaking point. This article analyzes the context of the crisis, discussing the root causes of the flows, why they are spiking now, and growing protection challenges.

Feature
April 15, 2015
EU Dublin Asylum System Faces Uncertain Future after Ruling in Afghan Family’s Case
The European Court of Human Right's ruling on the transfer of a family of Afghan asylum seekers from Switzerland to Italy has struck a potentially fatal blow to the European Union's Dublin asylum system. Against a backdrop of pressures on EU Member States in the humanitarian protection realm, this article assesses the impact of the ruling and reevaluates the viability of the Dublin Regulation as a key tool in the Common European Asylum System.
Top Ten
December 18, 2013
Recognizing Their Evolving Migration Roles, Emerging Economies Overhaul Their Immigration Systems

Recognizing their new positions in the global mobility system, several governments from countries with emerging economies are implementing structures to proactively manage the flow of people across their borders.

Syrian father holds his young son in Lebanon
Short Reads
September 2025
Mending, Not Ending, the Refugee Convention Could Save the Protection System and Restore Public Trust
By  Susan Fratzke and Meghan Benton
Equipment for a USAID project in Indonesia
Short Reads
April 2025
Can Innovation Help Blunt the Impact of Foreign Aid Cuts on Migration Management Programs?
By  Lawrence Huang, Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Susan Fratzke
Migrants and community members at a local clinic in Panama
Short Reads
December 2024
Legal Pathways and Enforcement: What the U.S. Safe Mobility Strategy Can Teach Europe about Migration Management
By  Susan Fratzke, Meghan Benton and Andrew Selee
Three Syrian refugee women in Lebanon
Short Reads
December 2024
The Complicated Reality of Syrians’ Return
By  Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Susan Fratzke
A German border sign next to a road
Short Reads
September 2024
Germany, and Maybe the European Union, Are at a Migration Crossroads
By  Hanne Beirens, Susan Fratzke and Camille Le Coz
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a press conference
Short Reads
June 2024
Rocking the (Small) Boat: Novel Options to Tackle Irregular Migration to the United Kingdom
By  Meghan Benton and Susan Fratzke
Sign for the 2019 Global Refugee Forum in Geneva
Short Reads
September 2023
Achieving Meaningful International Cooperation on Displacement: Can the 2023 Global Refugee Forum Deliver?
By  Susan Fratzke and Hannes Einsporn
Short Reads
August 2020
When Emergency Measures Become the Norm: Post-Coronavirus Prospects for the Schengen Zone
By  Hanne Beirens, Susan Fratzke and Lena Kainz
Short Reads
March 2020
Coronavirus Is Spreading across Borders, But It Is Not a Migration Problem
By  Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Meghan Benton and Susan Fratzke
Short Reads
February 2020
The Future of Refugee Resettlement: Made in Europe?
By  Susan Fratzke and Hanne Beirens
INMDistributesFoodAidChiapasMX.
Short Reads
June 2019
International Experience Suggests Safe Third-Country Agreement Would Not Solve the U.S.-Mexico Border Crisis
By  Susan Fratzke
Short Reads
October 2018
Three Things the European Union Can Do to Support Private Sponsorship for Refugees
By  Susan Fratzke and Hanne Beirens
Short Reads
June 2018
Europe Pushes to Outsource Asylum, Again
By  Elizabeth Collett and Susan Fratzke
Short Reads
September 2016
Global Refugee Summits Offer Reasons for Both Disappointment and Hope
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Susan Fratzke
Video, Audio
December 4, 2024

The Future of Complementary Pathways: Paving the Way for Growth

Experts explore the steps that can be taken to unlock further growth and overcome obstacles to scaling various refugee sponsorship initiatives and complementary pathway schemes, including education and labor-based programs, for those people in need of international protection.

Expert Q&A, Audio
November 15, 2023

A Passport to Opportunity: The Importance of Refugee Access to Travel Documents

Travel documents play an important role in international mobility, and for refugees serve as an essential gateway to a world of opportunities, from pursuing education and employment to reuniting with family. This episode unpacks the complexities around travel documents and their pivotal role in refugees' livelihoods. 

Video, Audio
November 14, 2023

Engaging Local Voices: Letting Cities Inform National Refugee Resettlement Goals

With the Global Refugee Forum approaching, this webcast explores how municipalities and other key stakeholders can be engaged in informing and delivering on the 2024 resettlement and complementary pathways pledges. 

Expert Q&A, Audio
September 26, 2023

The Power of Refugee Sponsorship: A Sponsor’s Story

How is refugee resettlement evolving? As more countries turn to private or community sponsorship, MPI speaks with Erin Schutte Wadzinski, who leads one of the pioneering private sponsorship groups in Worthington, Minnesota, under the Welcome Corps initiative.

Video, Audio
September 14, 2023

Strengthening Refugee Engagement in Community Sponsorship Programs

Speakers, including a resettled refugee, examine the challenges that hinder refugee participation in sponsorship program design and operation and explore meaningful ways, tools, and mechanisms for effectively expanding refugees’ role in current and future programs. They also discuss innovative initiatives that are already making strides in refugee involvement.

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Recent Activity

Articles
June 18, 2026

Countries Are Pushing Borders Outward to Expand Deterrence and Protection Alike

Previously niche strategies of recruiting partner countries to help manage irregular migration have become mainstream. Governments in multiple migrant-receiving countries have engaged other countries to screen, detain, remove, or otherwise transfer migrants elsewhere—in effect pushing the border outwards. While some externalization approaches have been criticized, the range of models is more nuanced than is commonly understood.

Reports
April 2026

From Exile to Return: Rebuilding Lives and States after Conflict

The fall of Syria’s Assad regime has raised questions in high-income countries about when displaced Syrians will return home. Similar conversations are underway about the nearly 7 million displaced Ukrainians. This report examines the complexity of facilitating returns without imperiling reconstruction, fueling additional displacement, and uprooting well-integrated workers and members of host societies.

Short Reads
September 2025

Mending, Not Ending, the Refugee Convention Could Save the Protection System and Restore Public Trust

The humanitarian protection system created through the 1951 Refugee Convention is a remarkable accomplishment. Yet this legal instrument that has saved millions of lives is showing its age. This short read explores ways to update the Convention, without opening Pandora's box, through a possible new Protocol that could address gaps and help better meet today's challenges.

Policy Briefs
June 2025

Small Boats, Big Stakes: Options for a UK-EU Deal on Migration and Asylum

Crossings of Channel waters in small, often unseaworthy vessels have become a top concern in France and the United Kingdom. As UK policymakers and their European counterparts consider striking a readmissions deal to more collaboratively manage these small boat crossings, this policy brief explores what is at stake, options for future cooperation, and what it will take for a deal to work in practice.

Short Reads
April 2025

Can Innovation Help Blunt the Impact of Foreign Aid Cuts on Migration Management Programs?

The termination of what MPI estimates is up to $2.3 billion in yearly U.S. foreign aid earmarked for migration and displacement projects leaves a vast gap that other international donors are unlikely to fill, particularly as European countries are themselves cutting their assistance. This short read posits three scenarios that may emerge, including one in which these funding shocks unleash long-discussed innovations and efficiencies in migration management and displacement programming.

Video, Audio, Webinars
December 4, 2024

The Future of Complementary Pathways: Paving the Way for Growth

Experts explore the steps that can be taken to unlock further growth and overcome obstacles to scaling various refugee sponsorship initiatives and complementary pathway schemes, including education and labor-based programs, for those people in need of international protection.

Short Reads
December 2024

The Complicated Reality of Syrians’ Return

While the fall of the al-Assad regime is a seismic moment, it may be premature for sizable numbers of Syrians to return after years abroad—as some host countries want. Conditions remain unstable and returnees would face major housing shortages and limited access to jobs. Instead of returns, host countries would do well to focus for now on other priorities as regards Syria and Syrian refugees, this short read argues.

Short Reads
December 2024

Legal Pathways and Enforcement: What the U.S. Safe Mobility Strategy Can Teach Europe about Migration Management

The Biden administration's ambitious migration management strategy, which combined increased regional cooperation and expanded lawful pathways with a more orderly system for border arrivals, eventually led to a significant drop in irregular migration to the U.S.-Mexico border. The strategy holds promise for governments in Europe also tackling mixed migration flows—however sequencing matters, among other lessons.

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