Syrians , like most immigrants to the United States , were motivated to pursue the American Dream of economic success . Many Christian Syrians had immigrated to the United States seeking religious freedom and an escape from Ottoman hegemony , and to escape the massacres and bloody conflicts that targeted Christians in particular , after the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war and the massacres of 1840 and 1845 and the Assyrian genocide . Thousands of immigrants returned to Syria after making money in the United States ; these immigrants told tales which inspired further waves of immigrants . Many settlers also sent for their relatives
Assyrian genocide
Assyrian genocide
Syrian Americans