In many urban centers with a significant immigrant population, networks of community membership tend to follow ethnic lines. This phenomenon is sometimes explained as a failure of integration on the part of immigrants. This perceived failure is then viewed as evidence of the inherently problematic nature of immigration from culturally distinct nations. However, the degree to which settlers integrate is influenced both by the attitudes of immigrants as well as the actions of those that were born in the host country. In many urban centers the incorporation of immigrants into the local culture is fraught with tension because of the hostile reception extended by natives. Through an examination of discourse, immigrant experience and anthropological theory, this essay will explore the impact that host culture antagonism to newcomers has on their degree of integration.
             In "The Power of the Imagined Community: The Settlement of Undocumented Mexicans and Central Americans in the United States" (1994), Leo Chavez summarizes the anthropological literature on the subject of community. His analysis reveals that in heterogeneous societies the concept of community is contested. Chavez suggests a model based upon Anderson's (1983) view that it is the development of a sense of belonging that builds community. At the same time, the maintenance of material or emotional ties to the homeland does not preclude attachment to the adopted country, nor does the lack of a warm welcome from the indigenous population (Chavez, 1994). This conceptualization of a community-based identity, he tells us, differs from the claims of other analysts that an individual can only maintain membership in one community at a time, a view that limits understanding of the lived experience of immigrants.
             Chavez argues that immigrants do not shut themselves off from building ties to their new community even though they maintain affinity with their community of origin. It i...