US to send ICE agents to Winter Olympics, prompting Italian anger

The US immigration department, which has been working on two fatal shootings in Minneapolis, has announced that it is sending agents to support US security during the Winter Olympics, which will begin in Italy on February 6.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed the agency’s role after reports that sparked concern and resentment in Italy.

The city’s mayor, Beppe Sala, stated on Tuesday that “this is a militia that kills… they’re not welcome in Milan.”

Italian media was previously informed by US embassy sources in Rome that various federal agencies had previously participated in previous Games, though it was not clear if the customs and enforcement agency had also.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the agency stated that “HSI is working with the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and the host country to identify and reduce risks from transnational criminal organizations.”

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Pantedosi said: “I don’t see what the problem is and it’s very normal. It’s very normal. I don’t see what the problem is and it’s very normal.

However, the outcry in Italy over the presence of officers from the same US federal agency increased as the images from Minneapolis’s circulation increased.

Two reporters for the Italian public broadcaster Rai were threatened by ICE officials as they drove around the city on Saturday morning after Alex Pretti was shot by federal agents on the streets of Minneapolis.

Attilio Fontana, the governor of the Lombardy region, suggested that ICE agents would be stationed in Italy to protect US Vice President JD Vance and Marco Rubio, the region’s governor.

Political opponents of right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni, including Barbara Floridia, a member of the Five Stars, warned that the government’s continued silence on the subject would “show more of cowardice and subservience toward Donald Trump.”

Since then, the interior minister has taken a stronger position, saying that “ICE will undoubtedly not operate on Italian national territory.”

He claimed that the Italian state had provided security to the US without providing a list of security personnel.

Milan’s center-left mayor had mixed feelings.