US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will have a security role during the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Games, according to information shared with local media by US Embassy sources in Rome. The Associated Press independently verified the information through two sources at the embassy.
Sources who confirmed ICE’s involvement on Tuesday said ICE agents will support the officer’s security detail and will not conduct any immigration enforcement activities.
During the last Olympics, several federal agencies provided security support for US politicians, including ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division, the sources said. They could not be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
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“At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is supporting the US Department of Homeland Security and the host country to assess and mitigate the threat posed by international criminal organizations. All security operations remain under Italian jurisdiction,” ICE said in a statement sent to the French news agency AFP.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said ICE would not be welcome in his city, which hosts many ice sports during Feb. 6-22 Winter Games.
“This is a killing army, an army that enters people’s homes, signs their consent slips. It is clear that they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt,” Sala told RTL Radio 102 before the ICE deployment to the games was confirmed.
“Can’t we say no to Trump for once?” he added.
ICE’s role was reported over the weekend by the Italian daily newspaper il Fatto Quotidiano, making conflicting statements by Italian authorities who did not want to appear to confirm the agency’s role.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said on Saturday that he had not yet received confirmation of the ICE deployment, but added that “I don’t see what the problem will be,” the ANSA news agency reported.
The Department of the Interior on Tuesday also said that the US has not confirmed the composition of its security detail but stressed that “at this time there are no indications that ICE USA will act as an escort for the US delegation.”
US Vice President JD Vance will lead the delegation to attend the opening ceremony on February 6. The delegation will include second lady Usha Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the White House announced earlier this month.
Confirmation of ICE’s role in Olympic security comes after RAI state TV aired a video on Sunday of ICE agents threatening to break the window of an RAI reporting team’s car in Minneapolis, where ICE operations have sparked massive protests. Three weeks ago, federal officials in Minneapolis shot and killed two protesters protesting deportations and immigration enforcement.
– With files from Global News’ Katie Scott
© 2026 The Canadian Press
