AP Report: ICE agents will assist with security at Milan-Cortina Olympics

MILAN (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will have a security role during the upcoming Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, according to information sources at the U.S. Embassy in Rome shared with local media. The Associated Press independently confirmed this information with two embassy officials.

Officials who confirmed ICE’s involvement said Tuesday that federal ICE agents will support diplomatic security details and will not run any immigration enforcement operations.

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During previous Olympics, several federal agencies supported the security of American diplomats, including an investigative component of ICE called Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the sources said. Their names were not revealed because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

HSI has a global footprint, and it is common for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide security support at major international events.

The State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service does so as well, routinely supporting events such as the Olympics. The use of US law enforcement agencies in these contexts is not unusual. During the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Transportation Security Administration deployed officers to help screen airports due to a spike in visitors and the potential threat of attacks.

Citing images of masked ICE agents that dominated coverage of the unrest in Minneapolis, Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said ICE would not be welcome in his city, which hosts most of the ice sports during the Winter Games from February 6-22.

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“This is a militia that kills, a militia that enters people’s homes, signing their permission slips. They are clearly not welcome in Milan, without a doubt,” Sala told RTL 102 radio before confirming the ICE deployment at the Games.

The Italian daily newspaper il Fatto Quotidiano published a report on the role of ICE over the weekend, sparking conflicting statements from Italian authorities who did not want to appear to confirm the agency’s role.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantidosi was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as saying on Saturday that he had not received confirmation about the ICE deployment, but added, “I don’t see what the problem is.”

The Interior Ministry reiterated on Tuesday that the United States had not confirmed the composition of its security forces but insisted that “at this time there are no indications that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will serve as an escort for the US delegation.”

US Vice President J.D. Vance will lead a delegation that will attend the opening ceremony on February 6. The delegation will also include Second Lady Osha Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the White House announced earlier this month.

Confirmation of ICE’s role in Olympic security comes after state television RAI broadcast a video on Sunday of ICE agents threatening to break the vehicle windows of RAI crew reporting in Minneapolis, where ICE operations have sparked mass demonstrations. In the past three weeks, federal officers in Minneapolis shot and killed two protesters against deportations and immigration enforcement.

Associated Press writer Colleen Barry in Milan contributed.