ROME, Jan 27 (Reuters) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel will help protect U.S. delegations during next month’s Winter Olympics in Italy, sparking a political uproar in the country.
ICE and Border Patrol agents have come under heavy criticism for their enforcement of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies after shooting and killing two U.S. citizens in separate incidents in Minnesota this month.
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations Division will support the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service during the February 6-22 Olympic Games in Milan Cortina, the Department of Homeland Security said in a post on X.
The role of the ICE agents will be “to investigate and mitigate the risks posed by transnational criminal organizations,” the post added, noting that “all security operations remain under Italian authority.”
“It is clear that ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations abroad,” said DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
HISTORY OF ICE Implementations
ICE has a history of attending major sporting events both in the U.S. and abroad, including previous Olympics, as part of international partnerships on human and drug trafficking, said Jason Houser, who served as ICE chief of staff under former President Joe Biden.
Despite assurances that there is nothing unusual about the deployment, Italian politicians have sharply criticized the presence of ICE agents in the country, highlighting how the image of the United States has been tarnished in recent months.
“It seems to me to be pure idiocy,” Maurizio Lupi, leader of a small centrist party in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s governing coalition, told the daily La Repubblica.
Giuseppe Sala, the left-wing mayor of Milan, one of the cities co-hosting the Olympics, called ICE “a militia that kills.” Sala told radio station RTL 102.5: “It is clear that they are not welcome in Milan, there is no doubt about that.”
The government of Rome tried to defuse the protests. The Interior Ministry said in a statement that ICE personnel would only work in US diplomatic offices such as the consulate in Milan, and “not on site” to enforce the orders.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said he met with US Ambassador Tilman Fertitta. Piantedosi said he would address parliament on February 4. The US embassy in Italy declined to comment.
‘IT’S NOT AS IF THE SS IS ARRIVE’, SAYS THE MINISTER
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called for a measured response. “We’re not talking about the (ICE people) who were on the streets of Minneapolis… It’s not like the (Nazi) SS is arriving,” he told reporters at a Holocaust memorial event.
A State Department spokesperson said that, as with previous Olympics, multiple federal agencies would assist with security, including ICE.
But Italia Viva, a centrist Italian opposition party led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, said agents affiliated with ICE do not represent Italian values and should be denied entry.
The far-left USB union said it would hold an ‘ICE OUT’ rally in central Milan on February 6, coinciding with the Olympic opening ceremony.
