U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents can have a security role throughout the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Games, in response to information shared with local media by sources on the U.S. Embassy in Rome. The Associated Press independently confirmed the data with two sources on the embassy.
The sources who confirmed ICE participation on Tuesday said that federal ICE agents would support diplomatic security details and wouldn’t 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 might not be named because they aren’t authorized to talk publicly.
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“On 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 an announcement to the French news agency AFP.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said that ICE wouldn’t be welcome in his city, which is hosting most ice sports throughout the Feb. 6-22 Winter Games.
“It is a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the homes of individuals, signing their very own permission slips. It is obvious they aren’t welcome in Milan, for sure,” 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.
ICE’s role had been reported over the weekend by the Italian day by day il Fatto Quotidiano, prompting conflicting statements from Italian authorities who didn’t want to look to substantiate 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 issue could 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 “in the intervening time there are not any 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 may even 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 interrupt the glass on the vehicle of a RAI crew reporting in Minneapolis, where ICE operations have sparked mass demonstrations. Previously three weeks, federal officers in Minneapolis have shot and killed two protesters against deportations and immigration enforcement.
— With files from Global News’ Katie Scott
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