Berlin, Jan 28, (dpa/GNA) – Following controversy over reports that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency would be at the the Winter Olympics in Italy, the agency confirmed its presence, but said it will not be there to conduct immigration enforcement.
“Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,” ICE’s overseeing agency, the Department of Homeland Security, posted on X on Tuesday.
“All security operations remain under Italian authority.”
ICE employees will be at the Olympics to support the US Secret Service and Italy “to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations,” the post said.
The deployment was backed by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani who said that ICE agents will not be patrolling the streets at the Milano Cortina Olympics – as they are doing in US cities – but would help protect the US delegation.
“Let’s be clear: it’s not that they are coming to maintain public order in the streets. They are coming to collaborate in the operations rooms,” the ANSA news agency quoted Tajani as telling reporters.
‘It’s not like the SS are coming’
Tajani said that the ICE presence in Italy will not be “like those people [who] are out on the streets in Minneapolis,” referring to ICE raids in the US city and the fatal shootings of two US citizens by ICE agents, which has caused outrage and protests.
“It’s not like the SS are coming,” Tajani was quoted as saying, referring to Nazi Germany’s paramilitary organization.
“It is not that people with machine guns and covered faces are coming, but that officials from a department are coming. They are coming because it is the department responsible for counter-terrorism,” he said, referring to the Homeland Security Investigations division of ICE.
The games start on February 6 with the main opening ceremony in Milan’s San Siro Stadium.
The US delegation is led by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marc Rubio – both strong proponents of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement actions.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala doesn’t want the US agents on his city’s streets.
“It is clear they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt,” he told RTL Radio 102.
“They are not aligned with our democratic way of managing security,” he added.
Olympic organizers plays down ICE presence
Milano Cortina organizing committee chief Giovanni Malago said this is a normal procedure when heads of state or other leading officials visit the games, and that other countries also have their own security operations for dignitaries in these cases.
Malago said the ICE agents were there for “technical” reasons and not part of the Olympic security operation.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said security was a matter for the host country which works closely together with the participating delegations.
GNA