Dangers of Syrian Refugees
 

Syrian refugees will most likely be damaging towards the U.S. economy, but more importantly, they will be a constant threat to the citizens of the United States. In the article “The Pros and Cons of Allowing Syrian and Iraq Refugees into the United States” Doug Collins stated “The underlying legislation H.R. 4038, isn’t about who we welcome into our country. It it about keeping out those who pose a threat to our national security”  (Collins 16). H.R. 4038 is our current legislation on how the United States determines which refugees should be allowed into the country, and as Laurie Kellman said in “Syrian refugee policy takes focus in US 2016 politics” with the United States’ vetting process, there is no real way to pick out Islamic extremist militants from the non-militant civilians (Kellman). Syrian refugees pose a serious threat to the United States when terrorists are easily entering alongside other refugees. This means our current legislation should refuse Syrian refugees admission to the U.S.. Although many will argue that there is no danger, but there have already been numerous attacks by Syrian refugees which have wreaked havoc on innocent people. In Germany, where many immigrants and refugees have been admitted, many attacks by Syrian refugees came with them. One attack was in Ansbach. In the article “Suicide bomber in Germany pledged allegiance to ISIS leader” written by Frederik Pleitgen, it was stated that a man who suicide bombed a concert, was a Syrian Refugee who pledged allegiance to the ISIS leader prior to the attack. (Pleitgen). Worse yet, in the same article it was mentioned that the Ansbach bombing was the fourth attack in Southern Germany that week (Pleitgen). Just hours before the attack, a Syrian refugee killed a Polish women using a machete (Pleitgen). Germany is not a rare case of these attacks either. In Paris, an attacker who helped coordinate the death of 129 civilians, came into France as a Syrian refugee. Attacks like these will happen and are happening now in the U.S. with the increase of refugee admissions. Do we want to live in fear of being attacked like the people in Europe? For the safety of everyone in the United States, granting Syrian refugees access to the U.S. should be deemed as too dangerous.

Physical Dangers

-A Paris attacker who helped with a coordinated attack which killed 129 people, had a Syrian passport- (Kellman). “Syrian refugee policy takes focus in US 2016 politics”

-If we let Syrian refugees in, it will be too easy for jihadis to wreak havoc- (Kellman).

-The United States should not let in Syrian immigrants or refugees because we cannot tell the difference between militants and civilians- (Kellman).

-Terrorists can pass background checks and be admitted into the U.S.- (Kellman).

-A Syrian refugee in Germany pledged allegiance to the ISIS leader and suicide bombed a concert- (Pleitgen). “Suicide bomber in Germany pledged allegiance to ISIS leader”

-”...Hours before the attack, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee killed a Polish women with a machete…”- (Pleitgen).

-The Ansbach bombing was the fourth attack in Southern Germany in a week- (Pleitgen).

-”The underlying legislation, H.R. 4038, isn’t about who we welcome into our country. It is about keeping out those who pose a threat to our national security”- (Collins 16). “The Pros and Cons of Allowing Syrian and Iraq Refugees into the United States”

-The Islamic State is pro-rape, pro-torture, and pro-mutilation- (Collins 14).

-”In the face of unspeakable violence and terror, the white house blinked. And our world is paying the price” (Collins 14).

Economic Dangers

-”We can’t afford to… take on new financial burdens at a time when we are not adequately providing for the jobs, the health care, and the education of our own people”- (Andryszewski 11). “Newcomers and Their Impact on the United States”

-If we keep growing at our rate and immigrants keep coming we will run out of room in the future (Andryszewski 11).

-Refugees will receive more in state benefits than they pay taxes- (Good). “For good or ill” From the Economist

-There are differences in the economics of refugees and legal immigrants- (Good).

-”Immigrants were a fiscal burden in Germany in part because lots of them are pensioners who tend to drain the public finances”- (Good).

-These refugees in Europe are 15 to 17 percentage points more likely to be unemployed- (Good).

-Immigrants and refugees are very expensive in the long run- (Andryszewski 57). “Newcomers and Their Impacts on the United States”

Other

-Donald Trump pledged to suspend refugee admissions- (Zong and Batalova). “Syrian Refugees in the United States”

-”The state has sued the U.S. government to stop future resettlement of refugees in Texas”-  (Altman 24). “Syrian Refugees in the U.S. Feel a Backlash”

Propositional Speech

As some of you may know, the current U.S. policy regarding Syrian refugee admittance to the United States is one focused on accepting as many immigrants as possible.  While this may seem like a morally right approach to the problem, the United States is both endangering our citizens physically as well as economically. As Andrszewski states in her book Newcomers and their impact on the United States, refugees negatively impact our economy, as the government is forced to pay to house and provide various services for these immigrants. A much better solution to this crisis would be for the United States to completely close its borders to Syrian immigration.  This would greatly benefit the U.S. economy as well as ensuring the safety of the citizens of the United States. By doing this the US can be sure not to fall victim to a terrorist attack like the one in Paris, ‘where a legally admitted Syrian immigrant was one of the perpetrators in the event’ (Kellman). Also, even officials who are in favor of keeping our borders open to Syrian immigrants acknowledge that “taking in Syrian refugees is a financial burden to the United States” (Phillips 1).  The United States spends approximately $582 million annually to resettle refugees with a whopping $150 million of this spent on just teaching these immigrants the English language (Phillips 1). 

Another shocking fact about this issue is that in the 2015 fiscal year $1.56 billion was allocated to the Office of Refugee Resettlement organization (Phillips 1).  This money is being mindlessly spent by the United States Government without any consideration on what the effects will be on our economy. The U.S. is already in debt and is still trying to work its way out of the crisis caused by the housing market crash in 2008. By spending large amounts of money like the U.S. is, it is only setting us back in the pursuit of economic prosperity.  We realize that implementing this policy regarding the ban on Syrian immigration, but the policy would greatly reduce the total cost put on the United States economy.

On the contrary, some opponents of this policy say that our current screening process is strong enough to keep out immigrants with ties to terrorist groups like ISIS, but this is just completely false.  I am not one to say that the current screening process in the United States is terrible, but it cannot be argued that the current policy is completely fool-proof, and would prevent all immigrants that could cause harm to the United States and its people from entering its borders.  All it takes is one or two people to cause massive havoc endangering countless U.S. lives.  Many people look at this issue and propose that the U.S. should just beef up its screening process for Syrian immigrants; however, the U.S. government already spends a tremendous amount of money on the screening process as it is, and for it to increase the security to a strong enough level that citizens can be confident in its effectiveness it would cost a great amount more than it already does.  This is just not economical for the U.S. economy to do.

Finally, another problem with the current U.S. policy is that by accepting all of these immigrants into our economy is that of finding jobs for the recently resettled.  These immigrants will be in need of jobs and there can only be one of two possible outcomes from this. Either these immigrants will not be able to find jobs and will have to rely even more on the United States government to bail them out, or the immigrants will take the jobs of current settled U.S. citizens, as stated by Andryszewski.  Neither of which would benefit the United States economy.  In this regard, the best option to deal with the incoming of Syrian immigrants is just to ban them altogether.  By doing so the United States would be both a safer, and expand the prosperity of the U.S. economy.

Works Cited
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