US to send ICE agents to Winter Olympics, prompting Italian anger

The US immigration agency whose officers have been involved in two fatal shootings in Minneapolis has said it is sending agents to help support American security operations during the Winter Olympics, which start in Italy on 6 February.

Confirmation of the agency’s role came from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), after reports prompted alarm and anger in Italy.

“This is a militia that kills… of course they’re not welcome in Milan,” the city’s mayor, Beppe Sala, told Italian radio on Tuesday.

An ICE spokesperson stressed that “all security operations remain under Italian authority”.

US embassy sources in Rome had already explained to Italian media that various federal agencies had worked at previous Games in the past, although it was not clear if the customs and enforcement agency had itself taken part.

The agency’s statement on Tuesday explained that “ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is supporting the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations”.

It would “obviously” not conduct immigration enforcement operations outside the US, it said.

The statement was given to news agency AFP and corroborated by embassy sources to Associated Press. The BBC has also approached the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Pantedosi, had initially appeared unaware that US immigration officials would be coming to the Milan-Cortina Olympics and said even if they were, foreign delegations could choose their own security, saying: “I don’t see what the problem is and it’s very normal.”

But as shock at the images emanating from Minneapolis grew, so did the outcry in Italy that officers from the same US federal agency could appear on Italian streets.

In the aftermath of Alex Pretti being shot on the streets of Minneapolis by federal agents on Saturday morning, two journalists for Italian public broadcaster Rai were threatened by ICE officials as the reporters drove around the city covering the agency’s actions.

The Rai TV report showed one agent warned the crew that if they kept filming the agents, their car window would be smashed.

The governor of Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, sought to calm the situation, suggesting that ICE agents would be deployed in Italy to protect US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Political opponents of right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, such as Five Star Senator Barbara Floridia, warned that continued government silence on the issue would provide “yet more evidence of cowardice and subservience towards Donald Trump”.

The interior minister has since taken a stronger stand, maintaining on Monday that “ICE will certainly not operate on Italian national territory”.

The US had not communicated a list of security personnel, and security was guaranteed by the Italian state, he said.

The centre-left mayor of Milan was unimpressed.

“I believe [ICE agents]shouldn’t come to Italy because they don’t guarantee they conform to our democratic way of ensuring security,” Beppe Sala told RTL radio.