U.S. sending ICE agents to Winter Olympics in Italy for ‘security’

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will have a security role during the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Games, according to information shared with local media by sources at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. The Associated Press independently confirmed the information with two sources at the embassy.

The sources who confirmed ICE participation on Tuesday said that federal ICE agents would support diplomatic security details and would not run any immigration enforcement operations.

During previous Olympics, several federal agencies have supported security for U.S. diplomats, including the investigative component of ICE called Homeland Security Investigations, the sources said. They could not be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly.

“At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is supporting the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations. All security operations remain under Italian authority,” ICE said in a statement to the French news agency AFP.

Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said that ICE would not be welcome in his city, which is hosting most ice sports during the Feb. 6-22 Winter Games.

“This is a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the homes of people, signing their own permission slips. It is clear they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt,” Sala told RTL Radio 102 before ICE’s deployment to the Games was confirmed.

“Can’t we just say no to Trump for once?” he added.

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ICE’s role had been reported over the weekend by the Italian daily il Fatto Quotidiano, prompting conflicting statements from Italian authorities who did not want to appear to confirm the agency’s role.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Saturday he had not received confirmation of ICE’s deployment, but added that “I don’t see what the problem would be,” the news agency ANSA reported.

The Interior Ministry on Tuesday repeated that the U.S. has not confirmed the makeup of its security detail but insisted that “at the moment there are no indications that ICE USA will act as an escort to the American delegation.”

U.S. Vice President JD Vance will lead a delegation attending the Feb. 6 opening ceremony. The delegation will also include second lady Usha Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the White House announced earlier this month.

The confirmation of ICE’s role in Olympic security comes after RAI state TV aired video Sunday of ICE agents threatening to break the glass on the vehicle of a RAI crew reporting in Minneapolis, where ICE operations have sparked mass demonstrations. In the past three weeks, federal officers in Minneapolis have shot and killed two protesters against deportations and immigration enforcement.

— With files from Global News’ Katie Scott