Immigrant Integration into the American Mainstream Since the founding of the United States of America, immigrants from all walks of life have sought refuge, a home, and a life in this land of prosperity and opportunities. The ability to freely exercise one's natural rights is an important pull factor that draws many people to America. Others come because it is a country where we can prosper. The prosperity of a country's inhabitants, however, is a more difficult phenomenon to explain than opportunities. Immigrants seek economic, social and educational as well as cultural prosperity. The question of how to achieve such prosperity is difficult to answer. Some immigrants come to America, shed their past identity and try to find a new, less foreign one. Assimilating into American culture with this new identity, they begin a long and perilous journey to seek prosperity in a country very different from the one they once considered home. Many will experience educational, economic and social prosperity, but never cultural prosperity. Assimilating so hastily into American culture, some immigrants are never able to explore and follow their cultural origins. Their families grew up and became American, never realizing their abandoned ethnic identity. However, immigrants who manage to achieve cultural prosperity through the help of other immigrants of their respective origin integrate into American society while maintaining their ethnic identity. This is the kind of opportunity that the United States of America has offered newcomers since its inception. Although many immigrants are overwhelmed by and assimilated into American culture, those who contribute to a functioning ethnic society are able to...... middle of paper ...... over time, enable them to integrate into the American mainstream. . The term “American mainstream” is constantly changing meaning. Since its founding, America has been a nation of immigrants. At first, immigrants came to America to find freedom: freedom of religion, freedom to live according to one's own culture while under the protection of the government, etc. Later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, citizens attempted to push immigrants to become “Americanized.” In this case, the American mainstream consisted of people who were forced to ignore their ethnicity and adapt to American culture. Today, the direction of the American mainstream has once again changed. It is now made up of people who strive to maintain their ethnic background, while also connecting and connecting with others to increase the social capital of their home country, the United States of America..