Translation of debütieren

Yesterday, I heard a very good example to explain my point: On their journey more than ten years ago, the presidential couple Mr. and Mrs. Clinton visited Egypt. They were welcomed by the president.
For example, there are many regions in the United States in which only few African-Americans live. Somehow intolerance is the biggest there, because the citizens there are not used to foreigners.
Once at the JFK I had six hours of stop over. That was plenty of time to think whether it was worth flying to Cancun or staying a few days in NY, waiting for the hurricane to pass. I called friends.