Anti-ICE protesters rally in Milan before Winter Olympics

Students demand ICE agents protecting US delegation leave amid global outrage over Trump’s brutal deportation push.Published On 6 Feb 2026Hundreds of protesters have gathered in Milan to reject the presence of United States immigration agents in the city before the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Winter Games.The student-led demonstration on Friday featured banners reading “ICE should be in my drinks, not my city” in reaction to the reported presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials providing security for the US delegation at the games.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Demonstrators arrested over ICE protest at Columbia Universitylist 2 of 3Video shows man fighting high school students at anti-ICE protestlist 3 of 3US border security chief withdrawing 700 immigration agents from Minnesotaend of listICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is a separate division from the department playing a lead role in US President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation push at home, which provoked global outrage after the fatal shootings of two US citizens and the arrest of a five-year-old and his father.Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi insisted this week that HSI would operate only within US diplomatic missions, insisting that officials “are not operational agents” and “have no executive function”.But students in Milan were not convinced, turning up in force on the streets with plastic whistles, which have become a symbol of anti-ICE rallies in the US, and calling for visiting US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to leave.Protester Giacomo Calvi told the AFP news agency he was protesting the US “anti-immigration police, which are carrying out all kinds of violence in the United States”.Protesters spray paint on a wall during a demonstration against ICE organised by students at the 2026 Winter Games, in Milan, Italy, on Friday [Luca Bruno/AP Photo]“I thought that this was a good opportunity to show that the rest of the world is not OK with what’s happening in Minnesota,” Katie Legare, a protester from Minnesota currently studying in Europe, told the news agency Reuters.