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Army personnel stand guard in Piazza Duomo forward of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Video games Milan, Italy, on Monday. Brokers from ICE’s Homeland Safety Investigations unit will even be current on the Video games, sparking outrage from some Italian politicians.
Piero Cruciatti/AFP through Getty Photos
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Piero Cruciatti/AFP through Getty Photos
A rising variety of Italian politicians are pushing again in opposition to a plan for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brokers to assist present safety on the Milan Winter Olympics.
U.S. Homeland Safety officers have offered help at previous Olympic Video games, however critics together with Milan’s mayor say after the violence in Minneapolis, ICE brokers are now not welcome.
“It is a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the houses of individuals, signing their very own permission slips,” Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala instructed native media. “It’s clear they don’t seem to be welcome in Milan, no doubt.”
It’s normal for U.S. regulation enforcement and intelligence companies, together with the Division of Homeland Safety, to play a task at massive worldwide occasions just like the Olympics.
In an announcement to NPR, Division of Homeland Safety spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin mentioned ICE’s Homeland Safety Investigations unit will help Italian authorities and different U.S. federal companies working on the Winter Video games.
“Clearly, ICE doesn’t conduct immigration enforcement operations in international nations,” McLaughlin mentioned. “On the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Safety Investigations is supporting the U.S. Division of State’s Diplomatic Safety Service and host nation to vet and mitigate dangers from transnational prison organizations. All safety operations stay beneath Italian authority.”
Talking with Italian journalists, Italy’s inside minister, Matteo Piantedosi, mentioned it is not but clear what U.S. safety personnel shall be on the Milan Cortina Video games, however he burdened that “ICE is not going to function on Italian territory.”
“It is not just like the SS are about to reach.” – Italian International Minister Antonio Tajani, talking with L’Espresso
Italy’s international minister Antonio Tajani, in the meantime, scrambled to comprise the controversy, saying that the ICE brokers working in Italy should not similar to immigration enforcement squads. “It is not like these are the [ICE] folks on the streets of Minneapolis,” Tajani instructed the Italian journal L’Espresso, including, “It is not just like the SS are about to reach.”
These reassurances have not happy many Italian politicians. Posting on X, former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte pointed to “road violence and killings” within the U.S. linked to ICE. He urged Italy’s authorities to dam any function for ICE brokers. “We can not enable this,” Conte wrote.
The opening ceremonies for the Milan Video games are every week from Friday, with Vice President Vance and different U.S. officers anticipated to attend.
These Olympics open at a second when tensions between the Trump administration and European allies are operating excessive over a variety of points, from tariffs and Greenland to the way forward for NATO and the protection of Ukraine.
NPR correspondent Ruth Sherlock in Rome contributed to this report.
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