U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will have a security role during the next Milan Cortina Winter Gamesaccording to information shared with local media by sources at the US Embassy in Rome. The Associated Press independently confirmed the information with two sources at the embassy.
The sources who confirmed ICE’s involvement Tuesday said federal ICE agents would support diplomatic security details and would not lead any immigration enforcement operations.
During the previous Olympic Gamesseveral federal agencies supported the security of U.S. diplomats, including ICE’s investigative component called Homeland Security Investigations, the sources said. They could not be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
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“During the Olympic Games, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division supports the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and the host country to monitor and mitigate risks related to transnational criminal organizations. All security operations remain under Italian authority,” ICE said in a statement to the French press agency AFP.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said the ICE would not be welcome in his city, which hosts most ice sports during the Winter Games Feb. 6-22.
“It’s a militia that kills, a militia that enters people’s homes by signing their own permits. It’s clear that they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt,” Sala told RTL Radio 102 before ICE’s deployment to the Games was confirmed.
“Can’t we say no to Trump for once?” » he added.
The role of ICE was reported this weekend by the Italian daily il Fatto Quotidiano, prompting contradictory statements from Italian authorities who did not wish to appear to confirm the agency’s role.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Saturday that he had not received confirmation of the ICE deployment, but added that “I don’t see what the problem would be,” the ANSA news agency reported.
The Interior Ministry reiterated on Tuesday that the United States had not confirmed the composition of its security services, but insisted that “at this time there is no indication that ICE USA will serve as an escort for the American delegation.”
American Vice President J.D. Vance will lead a delegation attending the opening ceremony on February 6. The delegation will also include the second lady Usha Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubiothe White House announced earlier this month.
Confirmation of ICE’s role in Olympic security comes after RAI state television broadcast a video on Sunday showing ICE agents threatening to smash the vehicle window of an RAI team reporting in Minneapolis, where ICE operations have sparked mass protests. Over the past three weeks, federal agents in Minneapolis have shot and killed two demonstrators against expulsions and immigration controls.
— With files from Katie Scott of Global News
© 2026 The Canadian Press
