President Donald Trump on Oct. 9 threatened to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding from New York City unless the city updates a map of immigrant communities to include Little Italy.
In 2023, the city created a map, “New York City Immigrant Enclaves,” that maps ethnic communities across the city, such as Chinatown in Lower Manhattan, Little India and Little Manila in Queens, and Little Palestine in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. However, the map omits Little Italy and ethnic neighborhoods of Irish and Jewish communities.
Speaking at a Columbus Day celebration at the White House, Trump threatened to cut billions of dollars in city funding.
“So you have Yemen covered, Haiti covered, Guyana covered, Senegal covered. I think it’s a disgrace. We are going to work on that immediately,” the president said.
The city budget relies on federal funding; as much as $8 billion in the city’s 2025 fiscal year budget came from federal sources, most of that going toward education and social services. Federal grants also support counter-terrorism funding for police bomb squads and emergency preparedness teams.
In October, 26,500 New Yorkers lost federal SNAP benefits for food assistance under expanded work requirements set up by the Trump administration. Starting in January 2027, possibly 900,000 New York City residents relying on Medicaid may lose health coverage when new federal work requirements take effect. This federal aid goes to individuals, not the city, but the city and state are scrambling to compensate lower-income New Yorkers for these lost benefits.
The 2023 immigrant enclave map resurfaced on social media in July, and the City Council’s Italian Caucus released a statement on X that it was deeply disappointed with the city for omitting the contribution of Italian Americans.
“Italians are not a footnote in New York City history—we helped build it,” City Council’s Italian Caucus said in a statement on X on July 10.
All four members of the Italian Caucus are Republicans.
When asked about leaving out Little Italy, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that the map predates his administration but that it would be updated in the future to include Little Italy and others.
“It’s clearly not an exhaustive list of the more than 200 ethnic enclaves,” Mamdani said July 11.
Trump Commemorates Columbus
The White House celebrated Columbus ahead of Columbus Day, a federal holiday in the United States that honors both Columbus and Italian Americans. Observed on the second Monday in October, Columbus Day falls on Oct. 12 this year.
In his speech, Trump said Columbus “undertook one of the boldest voyages” in the history of the world when he set sail in 1492 westward with the goal of reaching Asia but instead landed in the New World.
Trump said that critics of Columbus want to abolish Columbus Day.
“They want to tear down the history and heritage that makes us who we are,” the president said.
Before his comments at the Columbus Day celebration at the White House, Trump pledged on Truth Social in April 2025: “I’m bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes.
“The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much.”
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a Columbus Day event in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Oct. 9, 2026. The United States celebrates Columbus Day on Oct. 12. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
During President Joe Biden’s term, the federal holiday was known as both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Biden issued the first-ever presidential proclamation recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which has its roots in 1970s activism.
Activists wanted to shift the focus from commemorating Columbus’s 1492 voyage to the Americas to the negative effects of colonization on the indigenous people on the continent.
At the celebration, Trump also gave a shoutout to notable Italian Americans, including Yankees icon Joe DiMaggio, legendary singer Frank Sinatra, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
Emel Akan, Aldgra Fredly, and Jackson Richman contributed to this report.
