ICE deployment at Winter Olympics sparks anger in Italy
By CAL
January 28, 2026
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel will assist in protecting American delegations at next month’s Winter Olympics in Italy, a move that has sparked political backlash across the country.
The deployment comes amid intense criticism of ICE and U.S. Border Patrol over their role in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, following the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens in separate incidents in Minnesota this month.
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit will support the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service during the February 6–22 Milano Cortina Olympics, the Department of Homeland Security said in a post on X. According to the statement, ICE agents will help “vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations,” while stressing that “all security operations remain under Italian authority.”
“Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.
ICE has previously participated in security efforts at major sporting events in the United States and abroad, including past Olympic Games, as part of international cooperation targeting human trafficking and drug smuggling, said Jason Houser, former ICE chief of staff under President Joe Biden.
Despite these assurances, the announcement prompted sharp criticism from Italian politicians, many of whom said the presence of ICE agents reflected poorly on the United States.
“It seems sheer idiocy to me,” Maurizio Lupi, leader of a small centrist party within Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s governing coalition, told la Repubblica.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala, a left-leaning politician whose city is co-hosting the Games, went further, calling ICE “a militia that kills.” Speaking to RTL 102.5 radio, Sala said the agents were “clearly not welcome in Milan.”
Italy’s government moved to calm tensions, with the interior ministry saying ICE personnel would operate only within U.S. diplomatic offices, such as the Milan consulate, and would not conduct law enforcement activities on Italian streets.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said he had met with U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta and would brief parliament on February 4. The U.S. embassy in Italy declined to comment.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani urged restraint, saying comparisons were being taken too far. “We’re not talking about the ICE officers who were on the streets of Minneapolis,” he said at a Holocaust memorial event. “It’s not as if the SS are arriving.”
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said that, as in previous Olympic Games, multiple federal agencies would assist with security, including ICE.
Opposition party Italia Viva, led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, said ICE-affiliated agents did not reflect Italian values and should be denied entry. Meanwhile, the hard-left USB trade union announced plans for an “ICE OUT” protest in central Milan on February 6, coinciding with the Olympic opening ceremony.