Professional Affiliation

Advocate for Latin America, Refugees International

Expert Bio

Rachel Schmidtke is the advocate for Latin America at Refugees International. Previously, she was the program associate at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where she played a key role in the development of the Mexico Institute’s migration portfolio and produced policy work on Mexico, Central America, and U.S. migration, asylum, and refugee policies. Prior to joining the Wilson Center, she conducted research at Duke University on Northern Triangle migration, developing policy solutions for the United States and Mexico. She previously worked as part of the World Bank Gender Group, as well as at the United Nations World Food Programme in Lima, Peru and USAID in San Salvador, El Salvador. A Returned Peace Corps Peru Volunteer, Rachel received her M.A. in International Development Policy from Duke University, focusing on migration, Latin American foreign policy, and gender. Rachel is fluent in both Spanish and English.