Ohio Senator JD Vance’s “ethnic enclaves” remark when talking about immigration at a campaign event on Friday has raised some eyebrows on social media.
Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, was asked by a New York Times reporter at a news conference at the Milwaukee Police Association about an interview he did with podcaster Jack Murphy in 2021 when he was running for United States Senate, in which he talked about previous waves of immigration to the U.S.
“You said the following: ‘You had this massive wave of primarily Italian, Irish and German immigration, and that had its problems and that had its consequences.’ You pointed to these problems as being higher crime rates, ethnic enclaves and interethnic conflict. Should the United States have prescribed similar policies to what you’re proposing now, including mass deportation to deal with those issues?” the reporter asked.
Trump promised to carry out the largest deportation of migrants in U.S. history if he’s reelected in November. He also said he’d restore his 2019 “Remain in Mexico” policy which made non-Mexican asylum-seekers trying to enter the U.S. wait in Mexico while their immigration cases were pending. Additionally, the former president has pledged to finish building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border that his administration started building as a 2016 campaign promise.
Vance replied to the reporter on Friday: “Well, first of all, I also said there were a lot of benefits to that wave of immigration. But, has anybody ever seen the movie Gangs of New York? That’s what I’m talking about. We know that when you have these massive ethnic enclaves forming in our country, it can sometimes lead to higher crime rates.”
Gangs of New York is a 2002 historical drama directed by Martin Scorsese based on a 1927 book by Herbert Asbury. The film, set in the 1800s, follows a feud between two rival gangs, the Anglo-Protestant Confederation of American Natives and the Irish Catholic immigrant Dead Rabbits.
Newsweek has reached out to a Trump campaign spokesperson for Vance via email for comment on Saturday morning.

Adam Bettcher/Getty Images
Social media users on X, formerly Twitter, did not react well to a clip of Vance’s remarks circulating on the platform, calling him “weird,” which is a new tactic from the Democrats to call out what they see as strange behavior from Trump, Vance and other Republicans.
“I’m sorry what? Does Vance realize there were two gangs in ‘Gangs of New York’ and one was the anti-Catholic nativist xenophobes and the other gang was the Irish? Are the ‘ethnic enclaves’ JD Vance fears… Irish people? Is JD Vance afraid of the Irish? Weird,” Aram Zucker-Scharff, a software engineer for The Washington Post, wrote on Friday.
I’m sorry what? Does Vance realize there were two gangs in “Gangs of New York” and one was the anti-Catholic nativist xenophobes and the other gang was the Irish? Are the “ethnic enclaves” JD Vance fears… Irish people? Is JD Vance afraid of the Irish? Weird. https://t.co/YI0dC8TgCh
— Aram Zucker-Scharff | @[email protected] (@Chronotope) August 16, 2024
“Well, holy crap, didn’t think anyone would pick Bill the Butcher as a hero, but as the descendant of Irish Catholics, I find this, uh, concerning,” The Atlantic‘s Tom Nichols wrote.
William “Bill the Butcher” is the leader of the Anglo-Protestant Confederation of American Natives gang in Gangs of New York.
“‘Bill the Butcher was correct’ is a very interesting take on that film,” Matthew Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters, a nonprofit that monitors conservative misinformation and extremism in the media, posted to X.
Senator Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, wrote: “Calling this weird is a euphemism.”
Meanwhile, TV writer Bryan Behar took this as an opportunity to take a jab at Trump, the GOP presidential nominee.
“In real life, JD Vance just professed to understand crime in America because he’s seen The Gangs of New York,” he wrote. “That would be like professing to understand the border issues because you’ve seen Silence of the Lambs. Oh wait…”
Behar was referencing Trump speaking about the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs at multiple campaign rallies.
In real life, JD Vance just professed to understand crime in America because he’s seen The Gangs of New York.
That would be like professing to understand the border issues because you’ve seen Silence of the Lambs.
Oh wait…
— Bryan Behar (@bryanbehar) August 16, 2024
Screenwriter Adam Best wrote, “JD Vance is the quintessential ‘doesn’t understand [filmmaker Martin] Scorsese movies’ guy. Sorry to tell you, but Gangs of New York isn’t pro-nativism. Wolf of Wall Street isn’t a how-to guide for bros. Goodfellas isn’t an endorsement of organized crime. Have they ever heard of a cautionary tale?”
PatriotTakes, an X account that monitors “right-wing extremism,” according to its profile, pointed to Trump’s criminal record, writing, “The Trump / Vance ticket’s crime rate is 50% convicted felon.”
Trump was convicted of 34 felonies for falsifying business records in relation to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in late May. The former president has maintained his innocence, claimed the case is politically motivated and is currently fighting the verdict in court.
Meanwhile, the former president’s base has long argued that the spike in immigration from the southern border that the U.S. has experienced in recent years leads to more crime and used high-profile cases like Laken Riley and Rachel Morin’s murders to back them up.
Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed in Athens, Georgia, while on a run last February. The suspect in her murder, José Antonio Ibarra, is a Venezuelan illegal immigrant. Meanwhile, Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five from Maryland, was allegedly raped and murdered by 23-year-old undocumented migrant Victor Martinez Hernandez while out for a run in August 2023.
However, the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute, said in an article in May that “substantial research has assessed the relationship between immigration and crime. Numerous studies show that immigration is not linked to higher levels of crime, but rather the opposite.”

Elaine Hadley is a dedicated journalist covering the ever-evolving landscape of U.S. news. With a keen interest in politics and a commitment to uncovering the truth, she provides insightful commentary and in-depth analysis on domestic issues. When not reporting, Elaine enjoys exploring the diverse cultures and landscapes of the United States.