Cindy Vega

Professor Kati Lewis

English 2010
31 October 2015
10,000 Syrian Refugees for 2016: Too Much or too Little?
10,000 is the number of Syrian Refugees that the US is expected to see in 2016. It is a
large jump from the earlier proposed 5,000, but having been pressured by the UN and allies,
Obama let the number double (Koran et al.). This has been criticized by many as crazy and
irresponsible. Ted Cruz said that taking in such a large number was, nothing short of crazy
(Eggert). But would 10,000 refugees really affect us? Would it be best to lower it, or can we
handle more?
To understand why so many Syrians have left their home country, we must understand
what caused the conflict. It all started with Bashar-Al-Assads father, Hafez al-Assad, who
became president in Syria in March 1971. He turned Syria into a totalitarian government (Syria
Profile). Hafez al-Assad was president for 30 years, leaving Syria to his son Bashar (Marsh),
who so far has reigned from July 10 of 2000 (Bashar). Although Bashar said that he would
introduce reforms in the Syrian government, he
never did, maintaining the same government that
his father produced, a totalitarian government
(Wilkinson). This led to the accumulation of
resentment towards the Assad Regime. All it

Copyright Getty Images (Rodgers)

took to finally ignite the Civil War was fifteen schoolboys who had produced anti-government
graffiti. These boys were arrested by Secret Police forces and tortured (Macleod). Since then,

Syrian civilians have rebelled, tired of the totalitarian government they were placed under the
Assad family. These rebellions have caused the Syrian government to repel them, from using
snipers to kill peaceful protestors (Meo) to using sarin gas (Pelley). Fighting between rebels and
the government continued along with the eventual entrance of ISIS. To this day, the Syrian
conflict has remained unresolved, leading to the current count of 114,693 Syrian deaths (Conflict
Map). There is no safe haven in Syria, not even hospitals. Doctors are scarce, at least 654 having
been killed by air raids led by Assad (Yourish). Doctors Without Borders reported that one of
their Syrian hospitals only has two surgeons for the 90,000 inhabitants of the area and lack the
proper supplies, and have struggled to save all of the injured from the barrel bombings (Syria
Medical).
Fearing for their lives, 4.1 million Syrians
have fled the country, moving to surrounding Arab
nations of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and
Egypt while 348,540 have gone to Europe to seek
Asylum (Myre). The trip to Europe isnt easy
either. Crossing the Mediterranean on unsafe boats

Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse Getty Syrian

Rebel holding a child.

has caused 3,329 deaths this year (The Latest). A

recent case happened on October 28 2015, when a boat believed to have been carrying 200
refugees sunk near the coast of Lesbos, Greece (Brabant). Out of the 15 that died, 10 were
children (Mackey).
On land, they encounter hostilities from Europeans and other refugees, such as the recent
filmed attack in the Hungarian-Serbian border on August 30, in which a Syrian mother, whom
had a baby in her arms, was sprayed with something similar to pepper spray after apparently

being ushered forward by the Hungarian (Bulos). On August 21 Macedonian police were
recorded as having used force against the refugees, pushing them back south from the border.
This caused ten to faint from being crushed from refugees trying to move forward while being
pushed back by the police (Tomlinson).
The surge of refugees seems to have given
human traffickers an opportunity to gain more
money, as seen in Austria. A truck was found to
have held the bodies of 71 Syrians, eight of them
women and three of them children. Arrests were
Germany has had an increase in Xenophobic attacks Reuters, (Finland)

made, but the human smuggling will likely

continue due to the fact that the Austrian government cannot check all trucks individually
(Smith-Spark et al.). This should have been expected, the journey is usually lengthy, and many
have paid smugglers to take them to countries that will take them in (Austria Migrant Truck).
And even the most welcoming countries have found to lack in resources. Germany is
being split by Merkels announcement of not having a limit on Syrian refugees. While initially
open arms and welcoming, many Germans have started to see the repercussions of not having a
set limit. German newspaper Die Welt conducted a survey that showed that at least 42,000
refugees are living in tents (Martin). These tent-cities have also been the cause of tensions,
leading to a riot in the city of Calden, Germany. Calden has become home of one of Germanys
several tent cities, and has shown to lack the supplies required to house the 1,400 refugees. There

are only 400 showers and not

enough hot water (Faiola et al.) .
Because of this, xenophobic
attacks have grown. Last year,
there were 198 incidents
reported, and this year it has
grown to 437 (Faiola et al.). NeoRefugees arrive in Lesbos, Greece. Reuters Giorgos (Moutafis)

Nazis have started to sneak into

Refugee Camps as workers,

abusing many of the refugees whom are vulnerable (Foster). Merkel herself has been pressured
by both opposing parties and her own party to set a limit on the number of refugees accepted
(Connolly).
The US can learn from Germanys current state, and understand that there must be a set
limit before letting refugees in. Fortunately, as stated before, 10,000 has become our set limit for
the 2016 fiscal year. With this limit, the cost for each individual would be around 15,700
(Morello), leading to a total of $157,000,000. If you take the number of tax returns filed last
year, 144,815,000 (Filing), we can expect each tax paying individual to pay around $1.08,
assuming that the number of tax returns remains about the same. Money, then, would not be
much of a problem.
Space, another factor to the problem in Germany, is also less of a problem here in the US,
especially in the west (Cable).

The following table shows the estimated number of Syrian refugees per state for the 2016
fiscal year if the percentage of refugees accepted per state of the 2014 fiscal year is applied to the
10,000 Syrian refugees (Obama).

State

% of total refugees accepted

in 2014 fiscal year (Obama)

# of total
refugees
accepted in
2014
(Obama)

# of Syrian
Refugees
estimated for
2016 using
2014 %

107
141
2,964
7
6,108
1,813
543
29

# of
Syrians
Accepted
2014
(Fiscal
Year 2014)
0
0
15
0
32
1
1
0

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
District of
Colombia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri

.15
.20
4.24
.01
8.73
2.59
.78
.04
5.03
3.85
.00
1.40
3.68
2.61
.99
.70
2.64
.30
.55
1.75
2.77
5.72
3.19
.01
1.99

3,519
2,694
2
978
2,578
1,614
692
490
1,849
211
388
1,227
1,941
4,006
2,232
7
1,392

6
6
0
3
7
0
0
0
1
0
2
2
2
6
0
0
0

503
385
0
140
368
261
99
70
264
30
55
175
277
572
319
1
199

15
20
424
1
873
259
78
4

Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin

1.54
.81
.49
.52
.23
5.83
3.49
.83
4.02
.56
1.46
3.91
.00
.27
.17
.75
2.10
10.31
1.55
.45
1.87
3.55
.04
1.63

582
2,815
389
1,019
2,739
2
188
121
523
1,467
7,214
1,085
317
1,310
2,483
28
1,132

1,076
569
345
363
163
4,082
2,443
0
4
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
10
1
0
6
2
1
2

0
0
0
8
0
2
11

154
81
49
52
23
583
349

83
402
56
146
391
0
27
17
75
210
1031
155
45
187
355
4
163

Some cities have shown interest in taking in a larger number of refugees. A letter written to
Obama was signed by 18 mayors who believe that they are capable of accepting a larger number
of refugees (Foley). This may lessen the number some states have, and would especially benefit
Texas which could see 1,031 Syrian Refugees next year. It must be taken into consideration that
the number of Syrian Refugees per state does not exceed the total number of refugees taken in
during the 2014 fiscal year.
The general public is also divided on the topic of taking in Syrian Refugees. A poll
conducted by CNN shows this: (CNN/ORC Poll)

Party
Democrats

Agrees with taking in

refugees.
65%

Disagrees with taking in

refugees.
35%

Republicans

44%

55%

Those who oppose it are joined by individuals whom hold a prejudice towards Muslims,
or are generally xenophobic, as seen in Duncan, North Carolina. They held a meeting in
September regarding the refugees. Jim McMillan, a businessman, said They dont plan to
assimilate, they dont plan to take on our culture. They plan to change the way of American life.
Mike Burns, a republican state representative said, This immig

ration fiasco that were in the middle of is going to take away the very things were dear about.
Many individuals tried to defend them, saying that the US was a Judeo-Christian nation that
would not get along with Muslims (Fausset).
These Xenophobic fears are not justified. Refugees hold many responsibilities shared by
the US people, such as having to sign up for Selective Service, and maintaining employment to
earn living expenses and pay taxes (Benefits). Along with this comes the fact that before they get
here, they must undergo screening, which includes Health Screening, Security Screening, and a
cultural orientation (Refugee FAQ). The average time for Syrians is 18-24 months (Carol). If
found to not pass either the health or security screening, they are not allowed in.

Even so, the threat to national security is slightly higher when refugees come from crisis
areas like Syria. This is because the US doesnt have much information on Syria that they could
use to identify everyone involved with a terrorist group (Perez). Because of this, the screening
process may take longer. This is why the US is expected to see delays in how quickly these
refugees can be brought in. It is best not to rush and take the time to review each case in order to
minimize the threat to national security. While there may be individuals involved with
extremists, the majority of the refugees are really just trying to find a more peaceful life after
having suffered in their home country.
While there may be difficulties in trying to lessen the suffering of Syrian Refugees, we
are capable of doing so, but should probably expect to see these refugees coming in a much
slower rate than the US government has anticipated, considering that more care would be placed
on Syrian Refugees. Luckily, we already have more than 10,000 Syrian Refugees who are
expected to be done with screening soon, so we may still reach the 10,000 quota (Carol). While it
may initially intimidate people, the America is fully capable of handling this, and so are her
people. It all comes down to how well security measures can be followed and how welcoming
the people will be to their new neighbors.

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