News that a unit of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would be present during the upcoming Winter Games has set off concern and confusion in Italy, where people have expressed outrage at the inclusion of an agency that has dominated headlines for leading the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a unit within ICE that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events such as the Olympics to help with security.
HSI officers are separate from the ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration crackdown known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there was no indication ERO officers were being sent to Italy.
Italy reacts to US security deployment
The reaction among some in Italy reflects not only a worsening perception abroad of the administration’s tactics on immigration but also underscores a broader rift between the US under President Donald Trump and its international allies.
Vague reports that ICE would be deployed in some capacity surfaced over the weekend, resulting in a series of online petitions gathering support of people opposed to the presence of ICE at the Games. They followed a RAI news report that aired Sunday showing an Italian news crew being threatened in Minneapolis by ICE agents.
Trump’s immigration crackdown has in recent weeks intensified in Minneapolis, leading to the fatal shootings of two US citizens at the hands of federal immigration officers.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said that ICE would not be welcome in his city, which is hosting the February 6 opening ceremony to be attended by US Vice President JD Vance, as well as most ice sports.
“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.
Italy’s Interior Ministry said later that the HSI investigators would be stationed at a control room at the US consulate in Milan, in a support role with other American law enforcement agencies, and that they would not include personnel involved in immigration controls in the US.
It noted in a statement issued after Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and US Ambassador Tilman Fertitta met on Tuesday that HSI agents are present in more than 50 countries, including for many years Italy.
“All of the security operations in the territory remain as always the exclusive responsibility and direction of Italian authorities,” the ministry said.
Working behind the scenes
The ICE agents deployed to Italy for the Games will have a different role from the one seen in immigration crackdowns in the US, officials have stressed.
“Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,″ the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
“At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations is supporting the U.S. 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.”
A US official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security measures said the general public likely wouldn’t even see or be aware of the HSI agents on the ground during the Olympics.
The official said HSI agents would be working behind the scenes, mainly in offices or the US consulate in Milan, as they have done during previous international events.