‘A militia that kills’: uproar in Italy over ICE security role at Winter Olympics

A unit of US immigration and customs enforcement agents (ICE) will have a security role in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Italy, sparking uproar and petitions against the deployment.Sources at the US embassy in Rome confirmed a statement from ICE, the agency embroiled in a brutal immigration crackdown in the US, saying that federal agents would support diplomatic security details during the Milan-Cortina games but would not run any enforcement operations.The statement said: “At the Olympics, 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.“All security operations remain under Italian authority.”Speculation in Italy over ICE’s involvement in the games, which begin on 6 February, had been brewing for days and mounted further on Monday after the president of Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, said on Monday that the US vice-president, JD Vance, and secretary of state, Marco Rubio, would be protected by ICE “bodyguards” at the Olympics.The speculation fuelled outrage in Italy over ICE’s immigration operations, especially after the fatal shootings this month of the US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.The daily newspaper La Repubblica claimed Italy’s far-right government, which has nurtured friendly relations with Donald Trump’s administration, had briefly looked into blocking the participation of ICE agents in the delegation, but that would have required a departure from how US officials are usually protected during similar high-profile visits abroad.Milan’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala, told RTL radio that the agents would not be welcome in the city “because they don’t guarantee they’re aligned with our democratic security management methods”.“This is a militia that kills,” he said. “It’s clear that they are not welcome in Milan, there’s no doubt about it. Can’t we just say no to Trump for once?“We can take care of their security ourselves. We don’t need ICE.”Alessandro Zan, a member of the European parliament for the centre-left Democratic party, said the presence of ICE agents would be unacceptable.“In Italy, we don’t want those who trample on human rights and act outside of any democratic control,” he wrote on X.Two small opposition parties – the Green and Left Alliance (AVS) and Azione – have started petitions calling on the Italian government and the Olympics organising committee to prevent the ICE agents’ entry and involvement in the security operations.“ICE is the militia that shoots people on the streets of Minneapolis and takes children away from their families,” AVS said.The confirmation of ICE’s role comes after RAI state TV aired video of ICE agents threatening to break the window of the vehicle its crew were using to report in Minneapolis.