Italian public opinion and political opposition are in turmoil over reports that the United States will deploy agents from the now-infamous Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as part of the security detail for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
ICE has been under intense public scrutiny in the past weeks as it ramped up its aggressive tactics to tackle immigration. The agency has been widely supported by the current Donald Trump Administration, which has deployed them extensively in Minnesota, including in the major city of Minneapolis. Their aggressiveness caused the death of two US citizens in the past two weeks.
Images of the unjustified killings circulated widely in international media. Moreover, last Sunday, Italian reporters from public broadcaster RAI released a video of them being intimidated by ICE agents while reporting the protests in Minneapolis. In the video, agents threatened to break the reporters’ car if they didn’t stop filming, despite being told that they were journalists.
The combination of these events coincided with the news about the possible deployment of ICE agents in Italy during the Games. Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala, from opposition party PD (Democratic Party), told Italian radio RTL 102.5 that “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.” Meanwhile, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani tried to downplay the situation, saying that “it’s not like the SS are coming,” pointing out that the agents who will arrive in Italy are not the ones enforcing anti-immigration in Minneapolis.
To clarify the situation, the US Department of Homeland Security released a statement saying that “at the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations is supporting the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations. All security operations remain under Italian authority.”Â
The press release helped clarify who will actually be in Italy, working mostly out of the US consulate in Milan. ICE has a unit, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which is responsible for cross-border crimes and has been routinely assigned to assist with security for US citizens and personnel during events like the Olympics.
HSI is separated from the unit responsible for immigration raids, which is attracting controversy. That unit, known as Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), rarely works with HSI. Only recently has the Trump administration requested that the two units work more closely together on targeted operations on US soil.
However, HSI knows and expects the misunderstanding over the agencies. Due to ICE’s notorious reputation, HSI asked the federal government for its own email and website handles, because in many areas of the country with strong views against ICE, citizens were refusing to collaborate or answer emails from ICE.gov addresses.
US Vice President JD Vance will attend the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics in Milan on February 6. The games will run from that date till February 22.
