syrian refugee crisis entire debate

7/23/2019 Syrian Refugee Crisis Entire Debate

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First Constructive My Partner

Resolved: the United States should accept 65,000 refugees from the conflicts in Syria. To

start off, we want to provide some definitions. e interpret the resolution to mean that the United

States has an obligationto accept 65,000 refugees from Syria. !lso, we"d li#e to clarify

$conflicts in Syria% to mean the fighting &etween the si' sides of the Syrian (ivil ar: )ashar al*

!ssad"s government forces+ the anti*government opposition+ the slamic State+ -urdish

separatists+ numerous SS rivals, including the al*usra /ront+ and the international coalition.

illions of Syrian refugees have overwhelmed neigh&oring countries such as 1e&anon,

Tur#ey, 2ordan, and ra3. !ccording to ercy (orps, these four countries alone have ta#en in

a&out four million refugees since 40, far more than the rest of the countries who"ve accepted

refugees combined. !ccording to the uropean Union, one*in*five people in 1e&anon are Syrian

refugees. This is in a country smaller than Connecticut. The U.S. needs to step in and help

alleviate the &urden on these countries &y ta#ing in refugees itself.!ccording to the U.S. !gency for nternational 7evelopment, the U.S. has given the most

aid to Syrian refugees, a&out 89.5 &illion as of Septem&er 4. f we"re giving this much in aid,

then why can"t we &egin accepting more refugees than the 5,000*,000 ;resident


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n star# contrast, we"ve accepted only ,500 Syrian refugees. This is especially unDust

when you consider the fact that the U.S. is very much responsi&le for helping manufacture the

conditions that led to the Syrian (ivil ar spinning out of control in the first place.

n 404, ;resident


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Second Constructive Me

First Rebuttal My Partner

)lac# F e

)lue F y ;artner

Red F Unaddressed in the de&ate

. ational security threat posed &y tens of thousands of refugees from a hot&ed of slamist

and Dihadist activity

4. (ost of providing for refugees, finding them Do&s, and ensuring that they don"t &ecome a

long*term &urden on the !merican people

B. The cost of providing for 65,000 refugees will overwhelm our resources

9. The process for the resettlement of 00,000 Gietnamese refugees in the U.S. Hin particularthe first wave of 40,000 in IA5J

. Con argument:1etting in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees from a hot&ed of slamist

and Dihadist activity poses a very palpa&le and serious threat to our national security, since

some of these refugees may &e or &ecome radicaliEed. The U.S. will therefore e'acer&ate the

threat of terrorism on itself.

a. Primary Pro rebuttal:e could do &ac#ground chec#s on refugees who apply for

asylum in the U.S. e could also put families with young children as our K priority.)esides, we could #eep ta&s on refugees.

i. The 7epartment of Lomeland Security has stated that it"ll carefully screen

refugees the U.S. has accepted.

ii. ost of the people fleeing Syria are families with children, since loving parents

hope to ensure &etter lives for their children. These people will &e far less li#ely

than disaffected young adults to carry out acts of terrorism.

iii. To date, there have &een no terrorist attac#s committed &y Syrian refugees inurope, even with hundreds of thousands of them on the continent.

&. Secondary Pro rebuttal:f you"re fleeing from a group of &loodthirsty monsters He.g.

SSJ, chances are, you wouldn"t want to &ecome one of them, especially if you"re treated

well in your adopted country, and you live a good life. Remem&er: the vast maDority of

Syrian refugees are families with children, including parents who are hoping to ensure


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secure lives for their children. Laving e'perienced SS"s inhumane atrocities firsthand,

they wouldn"t want to &ecome one of them.

i. The parents of !lan -urdi, the three*year*old little &oy whose dead &ody washed

up on a Tur#ish &each, had originally fled to Tur#ey from their hometown of

-o&ani in northern Syria to escape SS, which lay siege to the city for si'

months. n the process, A0M of the city was destroyed.

i. f we welcome Syrian refugees to our country with open arms and help them &uild

&etter lives, chances are, they"ll &e grateful to us and conse3uently won"t get

radicaliEed. slamic radicals are those who are disillusioned with society or the

system and want to destroy it. f you"re content with &oth, you won"t try to do

that.

. Con argument:(ost of providing for refugees, finding them Do&s, and ensuring that they

don"t &ecome a long*term &urden on the !merican people.

a. Primary Pro rebuttal:2ust li#e the resettlement of Gietnamese refugees in the U.S. in

the aftermath of the Gietnam ar, we can ma#e the resettlement of Syrian refugees a

success story.

i. B5*90 years ago, in the aftermath of the Gietnam ar, 00,000 Gietnamese left

their country for the U.S.

. !ccording to the igration ;olicy nstitute, in 404, 6IM of

Gietnamese immigrants were in the civilian la&or force. That"s 6M higher than

that for the U.S.-bornpopulation H6BMJ.4. !ccording to same source Hthe ;J, in 404, the median

household income for Gietnamese immigrants was 855,AB6. That"s higher than

that of the U.S.-bornpopulation H85,IA5J.

B. These facts are impressive given:

a. n 404, appro'imately 6M of Gietnamese immigrants over the age of 5

were 1imited nglish ;roficiency.

&. n 404, appro'imately 4BM of Gietnamese immigrants over the age of 45

had a &achelor"s degree or higher.

i. (ompare that to 4M of the total U.S. immigrant population, and

4IM of the U.S.*&orn population.&. n conclusion, Gietnamese immigrants in the U.S. are more li#ely to &e in

the wor#force and to have a higher household income than than those who

were &orn in the U.S., even while &eing far less proficient in nglish and

generally not as highly*educated.


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ii. e can ma#e the same happen to the 65,000 Syrian refugees we"ll ta#e in. f

they"re willing to wor# hard, and if they"re committed to their new country, our

investment will definitely &e worth it.

&. Secondary Pro rebuttal:The refugees who"ll &e applying for asylum in the U.S. will

overwhelmingly tend to have money and may&e some higher education.

i. The refugees who are fleeing Syria for urope, !ustralia, (anada, and other

destinations around the world tend &e more affluent and conse3uently &etter*

educated than those who can"t afford to leave the country or go further afield than

Tur#ey, 1e&anon, 2ordan, and ra3.

These more affluent refugees can afford to travel internationally, li#e &uying

plane tic#ets He.g. those who"ve made it to (anadaJ.

4 They can generally also afford to &ri&e their way onto smuggling &oats to ta#e

them to urope, sometimes multiple times, if they survived multiple sin#ings

and #ept trying.

a. !ccording to the ))(, !lan -urdi"s family is &elieved to have paid89,900 for the crossing. That"s much more e'pensive than airfare to

(anada for the entire family, which they were trying to reach. So, in total,

they would"ve easily paid over 86,000 to get to (anada.

ii. Therefore, we won"t &e ta#ing in 65,000 penniless, uneducated people @ we"ll &e

ta#ing in people with money and very li#ely some education. This will &e much

less of a &urden than if we were ta#ing in the former.

4. Con argument:The cost of providing for 65,000 refugees will overwhelm our resources.

a. Primary pro rebuttal:65,000 isn"t the most num&er of refugees the U.S. has ever ta#en

in in a short period of time. n fact, compared to the A0,000 refugees we already accept

annually, and the 800,000we too# in in the aftermath of the Gietnam ar, 65,000 isn"t astretch at all.

i. 8 &illion isn"t unattaina&le, and very li#ely won"t result in e'tra ta'es.

. 8 &illion split e3ually among the 44.B million !mericans in the

wor#force F 8. per person.

4. 8 &illion split e3ually among the B.I million !mericans in the

nation F B4 cents per person.

B. The federal government can set up a nationwide donation fund and

let private citiEens chip in at their own discretion. The government won"t have

to raise ta'es, since 8 &illion really isn"t that unattaina&le.

ii. The U.S. already accepts A0,000 refugees from all over the world annually,

according to &oth The New or! Timesand (. The resolution doesn"t specify a

time*frame for ta#ing in 65,000 Syrians. e could do it over one or two or even

five years.

iii. !ccording to T"#$, the U.S. too# in 900,000 astern uropean refugees after

orld ar , and 650,000 (u&ans after /idel (astro came to power.


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iv. n IA5, right after the U.S. lost the Gietnam ar, we too# in 40,000 Gietnamese

refugees. The opposition they faced at the time is remar#a&ly similar to that faced

&y Syrian refugees today.

. !mericans feared that they"d $steal Do&s,% or, conversely, &e a

&urden on the system if they were una&le to find Do&s. specially with the oil

crises of the decade, the A0"s were a &ad time for the U.S. economy.

4. The Gietnam ar ended in the midst of the (old ar.

(onse3uently, many !mericans feared for the refugees" political leanings:

were they communists=

B. Lowever, as my partner previously stated, refugees from the

Gietnam ar have &eneficial to our economy and to our society. e"ve turned

their plight into an !merican success story. e can do the same with Syrian

refugees.

B. Pro evidence:The process for the resettlement of 00,000 Gietnamese refugees in the U.S.,in particular the first wave of 40,000 in IA5. !rticle &y T"#$.

a. Low they were allowed into the U.S., found new homes, and got Do&s: The refugees

$were processed in Cuam Nan !merican territory in the ;acific


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immigrants who had come to the U.S. in IA5 had adDusted well. mployment was

actually higher among that group than among the entirety of the !merican population,

and the num&er who depended on the government for help was sin#ingQThe Gietnamese

immigrant population in the United States remains relatively well*off.%


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Second Rebuttal Me

)lac# F !ddressed in the de&ate

Red F Unaddressed in the de&ate

)efore close this de&ate, "d li#e to remind everyone of us here something a&out the

country we live in, and the people who inha&it it. !merica is a land of immigrants. /rom the

earliest ative !mericans to the 6A5,000 people we annually welcome, our nation has &een &uilt

on immigrants.

syrian refugee crisis entire debate

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