Milan mayor blasts ICE as ‘militia that kills’ before Winter Olympics role | Winter Olympics News

The 2026 Milano Cortina Games are to open on February 6, but the event is already being overshadowed by the US agency’s role.

Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala says Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a United States government agency that is to support security operations at the Winter Olympics in Italy, is “not welcome”.

Confirmation that a branch of ICE will help with security for the Milano Cortina Games, which will begin next week, has sparked immediate anger as well as a plea from Sala.

“This is a militia that kills. … It’s clear that they are not welcome in Milan. There’s no doubt about it. Can’t we just say no to [US President Donald] Trump for once?” he said in an interview with RTL 102.5 radio.

Reports had been circulating for days that the agency embroiled in an often brutal immigration crackdown in the US could be involved in US security measures for the February 6-22 Games in northern Italy.

In a statement issued overnight to the AFP news agency, ICE said: “At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is supporting the US 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.”

The Associated Press news agency also quoted sources at the US embassy in Rome as saying the federal immigration agents would support diplomatic security details but not run any immigration enforcement operations.

It’s not known whether the HSI has in the past been involved in the Olympics or whether this is a first.

According to the ICE website, the HSI investigates global threats and the illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons and sensitive technology into, out of and through the US.

ICE said its operations in Italy are separate from the immigration crackdown ordered by Trump in the US.

“Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,” it said.

The protection of US citizens during Olympic Games held overseas is led by the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).

The outrage over ICE immigration operations in the US is shared by many people in Italy after federal agents fatally shot two civilians this month in Minneapolis in the northern state of Minnesota.

Alessandro Zan, a member of the European Parliament for Italy’s centre-left Democratic Party, called ICE “Trump’s private police force” and condemned its deployment to Italy as “unacceptable”.

“In Italy, we don’t want those who trample on human rights and act outside of any democratic control,” he wrote on X.

Italian authorities initially denied the presence of ICE and then sought to downplay its role, suggesting the agency would help only in security for the US delegation.

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio plan to attend the opening ceremony in Milan on February 6.

On Monday, the president of the northern Lombardy region, said ICE’s involvement would be limited to monitoring Vance and Rubio.

“It will be only in a defensive role, but I am convinced that nothing will happen,” Attilio Fontana told reporters.

However, his office then issued a statement saying he did not have any specific information on ICE’s presence but was responding to a hypothetical question.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi was quoted as saying late on Monday that “ICE, as such, will never operate in Italy.”

The International Olympic Committee, when contacted by AFP about the matter, replied: “We kindly refer you to the USOPC,” the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Thousands of ICE agents have been deployed around the US to carry out a crackdown on undocumented immigration, but it has also resulted in the arrests of US citizens and legal residents.

Their actions have prompted widespread protests, and this month’s killings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, on the streets of Minneapolis have sparked outrage.