MILAN Winter Games to See Involvement of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
According to sources at the U.S. embassy in Rome, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will have a security role during the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Games.
The sources confirmed that federal ICE agents would be supporting diplomatic security details and not conducting immigration enforcement operations.
Previous Olympics have seen various federal agencies support security for U.S. diplomats, including Homeland Security Investigations, an investigative component of ICE.
Despite this, Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala expressed that ICE would not be welcome in the city hosting most ice sports, citing differences in security management approaches.
Christoph Sator/picture alliance via Getty Images
Reports of ICE’s involvement were first mentioned by the Italian daily il Fatto Quotidiano, leading to conflicting statements from Italian authorities.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi stated that he had not received confirmation of ICE’s role but saw no issue with it, as reported by the news agency ANSA.
The confirmation of ICE’s role follows the airing of video on RAI state TV showing ICE agents threatening a RAI crew in Minneapolis.
