Are gangs just used as a metaphor for ethnic groups?

one day on campus there was this Young Republican group that was on campus that put up a gate that represented illegal immigrants and that we should prevent them from coming over into the United States. Well I believe this is something that comes up within my topic of white gangs within the Prison walls. The purpose of segregation I believe within the prison walls is not to try and prevent war, but to build trust within a certain racial group to prevent others from taking over. With this being said, the young republicans would be lets say, the Aryan Brotherhood, and they are trying to prevent illegal immigrants or like the M13 or even the mafia within their territory. Form reading The recovering skin head and watching American History X, it portrays the Young Republican who could be part of the Skin heads or whatever as being uneducated or even blind by the surroundings of only perspective. Not trying to shoot down the Young Republicans or anything, but from the incident that happened last year with putting up the gate within our local community, not only did that in steel in our heads whats the purpose of the Young Republicans, but also it expands on our beliefs and what they represent.