Immigration Trial
The purpose of the Immigration Trial Project was to learn more about immigration and current events while also working on our debate and public speaking skills. By doing this project, we got a better understanding of immigration policy, reform, and economics. Something that went well for me during this project was being able to do well during my opening statement. I maybe did not practice as much as I should have, but I was able to pull it off and give a meaningful presentation. During this project something that I should have done differently was spend more time preparing for the cross examinations of other witness’. Our cross examination questions were come up with on the spot and if we had spent more time prior coming up with them, they would most likely be more insightful, and more helpful to our argument. A challenging part of this project was the necessary interaction between the lawyers, witnesses, and lead attorneys. This is something that my team lacked. As a leading attorney, I did ask the witnesses how their Witness Statements and other work was doing, but I would not actually look at some of it. When they said it looked good, it really wasn’t even close to my expectations. I learned that if you set high expectations for others, you need to put it on your agenda to help them meet those expectations. This project changed my perception on debates because before I thought a debate was won or lost depending on how you work on the fly, when you are put on the spot. Now I know those who prepare the most and put the most time into it, have the best chance of winning and succeeding.
Opening Statement
Over 11 million undocumented citizens are in the United States right now. Thats right, 11 million. An estimated 8.5 million jobs have been taken away from legal United States residents. Why are we letting them all in when we could simply avoid all these problems?
My team is representing the only possible solution to the immigration problem, to enforce the borders and make sure no more illegal immigrants can get in. Also, if we increase security inside the United States, we can decrease the amounts of undocumented citizens that reside here.
The other groups are gonna try and shoot us down. One of my opponents will try and say the laws are perfect the way they are. That it would hurt our economy if we changed the laws in any way This is obviously not true because if they were fine the way they were, we would not be debating this topic right now. And also, having all these undocumented citizens in the United States take jobs from real citizens. Another opponent is going to try and say that we can fix the immigration crisis by offering amnesty to all the undocumented citizens in the United States. They will try and argue that this will make it so the people in need will get a job and will have to pay taxes. All we have to say to them is that didn’t we try this in the Reagan 1986 immigration reform? Give all the immigrants amnesty? Why would we believe it is going to work this time. Also, once we give amnesty to all the current immigrants, how will that solve our problem of all the future immigrants who want to come here illegally. The last option brought up is that we need to give temporary visas to workers that want to come to America. They think that we will believe this will help our economy. That it will also help the families in Mexico. Well, this idea will still put a strain on our economy, think about it. These temporary visas will be given mostly to low income Mexican workers. In the United States economy, we give more funds and benefits to lower class and poorer people. These benefits are funded by who, us United States citizens! Our tax dollars will be going to support non United States citizens.
Our team’s logic for the position we support is that if we continue letting undocumented citizens into the United States it will affect our country’s economy and social aspects badly. These undocumented immigrants cause a 113 billion dollar cost for taxpayers. To decrease the amount, we need to decrease the amount of illegal immigrants in America! The wages of American’s are also dropping due to illegal immigrants. They are making it harder for the everyday man and woman to get by. We are a nation of laws and to tolerate a system that encourages the breaking of a law destroys the very essence of our system which is respect for the law. Right now, we are ok with people breaking the law, and that completely takes away all of the authority of them! We are not enforcing these laws that we decided to put in place. Worksite enforcement has been proven to help slow illegal immigration. But for some reason, we are decreasing the amount of enforcement every year, inside the United States. We all know where the undocumented citizens loiter to get their day jobs, all we would have to do is send a few men out and bam!
Our first witness is a minuteman. He will talk about how the minutemen project w as expanding our border effects (http://www.libertyparkusafd.org/). That they were working hard to secure the border, but the government wouldn’t help them. Then he will bring up that “Senate voted for a fence to cover only 3% of our border… Politicians have just voted to put up a smoke screen instead of a real fence. They provide misleading information about border security to make you believe the border is secure.” (http://www.libertyparkusafd.org/) He will go more into detail about the efforts of the minutemen.
Our Border Patrol witness will talk about how we are not enforcing immigration laws or policies enough which makes them not as effective as they have the potential to be. She will talk about how the border patrol isn’t able to enforce the laws that the U.S Government has put in place. They also do not have enough manpower to stop the aliens from entering the country. About 2,700 undocumented citizens cross the border each day and we only have 21,000 members of border patrol.
The Homeland Security agent will mention that they aren’t given the funds to catch the undocumented citizens. She will talk about how many arrests the Homeland Security agents make every year. Also, many counties and cities have stopped all funding that goes towards catching undocumented citizens, some even considering the county a “safe healthy and dignified place to live for its immigrant communities, regardless of immigration status.” How are they supposed to do their job when they don’t have the necessary funding and some cities are disabling them from even doing their job!
A D.E.A agent talks about the influx of drugs being brought across the border because of immigrants smuggling them and the lack of security. According to the US department of justice, in 2009, 1,626 metric tons of illegal drugs had been seized during transit from Mexico into the US. (http://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs38/38661/movement.htm) Even with that number, more get passed the border patrol. Our DEA agents are our last hope to stopping smugglers.
Our next witness will be an American worker who has been affected by undocumented citizens. He knows from first hand experience that undocumented citizens trying to get some semi skilled middle class jobs brings the wages down for all of us! The worker will explain how this is the reason for our diminishing middle class.
Our last will be a United States economist, and he will talk about the effect that undocumented immigrants have on the country’s economy. Since the undocumented citizens don't have to pay all of the major taxes that we have to pay, they are also adding to the tremendous economic problem that the U.S.A is currently dealing with. Also, they are benefitting from Medical Service and Education which we are paying for!
In conclusion, the consequences of bringing in or allowing undocumented immigrants into the country is too high. They become a matter of national security because the government would have information on them. Real American citizens would have to pay for most of their community expenses such as school. We pay good money to give our children a proper education, why don't they have too. Undocumented immigrants also take away the jobs from Americans. Thousands of Americans are unemployed because of it.
While listening to our witnesses, please consider how our argument will help the future of the the America.
Over 11 million undocumented citizens are in the United States right now. Thats right, 11 million. An estimated 8.5 million jobs have been taken away from legal United States residents. Why are we letting them all in when we could simply avoid all these problems?
My team is representing the only possible solution to the immigration problem, to enforce the borders and make sure no more illegal immigrants can get in. Also, if we increase security inside the United States, we can decrease the amounts of undocumented citizens that reside here.
The other groups are gonna try and shoot us down. One of my opponents will try and say the laws are perfect the way they are. That it would hurt our economy if we changed the laws in any way This is obviously not true because if they were fine the way they were, we would not be debating this topic right now. And also, having all these undocumented citizens in the United States take jobs from real citizens. Another opponent is going to try and say that we can fix the immigration crisis by offering amnesty to all the undocumented citizens in the United States. They will try and argue that this will make it so the people in need will get a job and will have to pay taxes. All we have to say to them is that didn’t we try this in the Reagan 1986 immigration reform? Give all the immigrants amnesty? Why would we believe it is going to work this time. Also, once we give amnesty to all the current immigrants, how will that solve our problem of all the future immigrants who want to come here illegally. The last option brought up is that we need to give temporary visas to workers that want to come to America. They think that we will believe this will help our economy. That it will also help the families in Mexico. Well, this idea will still put a strain on our economy, think about it. These temporary visas will be given mostly to low income Mexican workers. In the United States economy, we give more funds and benefits to lower class and poorer people. These benefits are funded by who, us United States citizens! Our tax dollars will be going to support non United States citizens.
Our team’s logic for the position we support is that if we continue letting undocumented citizens into the United States it will affect our country’s economy and social aspects badly. These undocumented immigrants cause a 113 billion dollar cost for taxpayers. To decrease the amount, we need to decrease the amount of illegal immigrants in America! The wages of American’s are also dropping due to illegal immigrants. They are making it harder for the everyday man and woman to get by. We are a nation of laws and to tolerate a system that encourages the breaking of a law destroys the very essence of our system which is respect for the law. Right now, we are ok with people breaking the law, and that completely takes away all of the authority of them! We are not enforcing these laws that we decided to put in place. Worksite enforcement has been proven to help slow illegal immigration. But for some reason, we are decreasing the amount of enforcement every year, inside the United States. We all know where the undocumented citizens loiter to get their day jobs, all we would have to do is send a few men out and bam!
Our first witness is a minuteman. He will talk about how the minutemen project w as expanding our border effects (http://www.libertyparkusafd.org/). That they were working hard to secure the border, but the government wouldn’t help them. Then he will bring up that “Senate voted for a fence to cover only 3% of our border… Politicians have just voted to put up a smoke screen instead of a real fence. They provide misleading information about border security to make you believe the border is secure.” (http://www.libertyparkusafd.org/) He will go more into detail about the efforts of the minutemen.
Our Border Patrol witness will talk about how we are not enforcing immigration laws or policies enough which makes them not as effective as they have the potential to be. She will talk about how the border patrol isn’t able to enforce the laws that the U.S Government has put in place. They also do not have enough manpower to stop the aliens from entering the country. About 2,700 undocumented citizens cross the border each day and we only have 21,000 members of border patrol.
The Homeland Security agent will mention that they aren’t given the funds to catch the undocumented citizens. She will talk about how many arrests the Homeland Security agents make every year. Also, many counties and cities have stopped all funding that goes towards catching undocumented citizens, some even considering the county a “safe healthy and dignified place to live for its immigrant communities, regardless of immigration status.” How are they supposed to do their job when they don’t have the necessary funding and some cities are disabling them from even doing their job!
A D.E.A agent talks about the influx of drugs being brought across the border because of immigrants smuggling them and the lack of security. According to the US department of justice, in 2009, 1,626 metric tons of illegal drugs had been seized during transit from Mexico into the US. (http://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs38/38661/movement.htm) Even with that number, more get passed the border patrol. Our DEA agents are our last hope to stopping smugglers.
Our next witness will be an American worker who has been affected by undocumented citizens. He knows from first hand experience that undocumented citizens trying to get some semi skilled middle class jobs brings the wages down for all of us! The worker will explain how this is the reason for our diminishing middle class.
Our last will be a United States economist, and he will talk about the effect that undocumented immigrants have on the country’s economy. Since the undocumented citizens don't have to pay all of the major taxes that we have to pay, they are also adding to the tremendous economic problem that the U.S.A is currently dealing with. Also, they are benefitting from Medical Service and Education which we are paying for!
In conclusion, the consequences of bringing in or allowing undocumented immigrants into the country is too high. They become a matter of national security because the government would have information on them. Real American citizens would have to pay for most of their community expenses such as school. We pay good money to give our children a proper education, why don't they have too. Undocumented immigrants also take away the jobs from Americans. Thousands of Americans are unemployed because of it.
While listening to our witnesses, please consider how our argument will help the future of the the America.