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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defended a controversial city map highlighting immigrant enclaves Friday, saying it was never intended to be comprehensive and promising updates after criticism over the omission of Little Italy.
In response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, the Mayor’s Office pointed to remarks Mamdani made during an unrelated press conference Friday, where he said the map was created under the previous administration in 2023.
“This map was initially created by the prior administration in 2023, and when we inherited it, we added a few additional neighborhoods,” Mamdani said. “It’s clearly not an exhaustive list of the more than 200 ethnic communities that call our city home, and we’re going to be making additional changes in the future to reflect that and that includes Little Italy.”
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a primary-night watch party for congressional candidate Claire Valdez at 99 Scott Studio on June 23, 2026 in Brooklyn. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The “New York City Immigrant Enclaves” map resurfaced this week on social media after users noted it omitted Little Italy, as well as Jewish and Irish neighborhoods, despite highlighting 30 immigrant communities across the five boroughs. The map is part of the city’s Neighborhood Passport campaign tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The omission drew criticism from the Italian American Civil Rights League (IACRL), which accused the administration of erasing one of the communities that helped build New York.
“Zohran Mamdani wants to ERASE Italian Americans. First, he denied our permit for Unity Day 2026. Now, he is excluding Little Italy as a recognized location all together on the map,” the group wrote on X.
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“Mamdani’s City Hall can find room for every fashionable progressive constituency, but somehow it cannot find Little Italy,” IACRL President Mike Crispi said in a statement.
The controversy also drew reaction from Republican New York City Council Member Vickie Paladino, who mocked the map in an X post by joking she was renaming her northeast Queens district “Little America.”
“Here we welcome refugees from the rest of the city who want to live amongst a culture reminiscent of the nation they once knew as The United States,” Paladino wrote.
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Little Italy in Manhattan was omitted from New York City’s immigrant enclave map, prompting backlash before Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the neighborhood would be added. (Dosfotos/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
New York City Tourism + Conventions previously told Fox News Digital the map was created by the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs in 2023. Mamdani said his administration has already added a few neighborhoods since taking office and plans to make additional revisions, including adding Little Italy.
According to the Library of Congress, more than 4 million Italians immigrated to the United States between the 1880s and 1924, with roughly one-third settling in New York City.
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The Italian American Civil Rights League did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this report.
