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ICE UNIT TO FILL SECURITY ROLE AT WINTER OLYMPICS IN MILAN  
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Associated Press
January 27, 2026
ESPN
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_ News that ICE would be present during the upcoming Winter Games has
set off concern and confusion in Italy, where people have expressed
outrage at the inclusion of an agency that has dominated headlines for
leading Trump's immigration crackdown. _

Children play near the Olympic rings as snow falls, ahead of the
Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Livigno, Italy, Jan. 8, 2026.,
Photo by Yara Nardi/ Reuters // PBS News

 

News that a unit of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be
present during the upcoming Winter Games has set off concern and
confusion in Italy, where people have expressed outrage at the
inclusion of an agency that has dominated headlines for leading the
Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

Homeland Security Investigations, a unit within ICE that focuses on
cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events
such as the Olympics to assist with security. HSI officers are
separate from the ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration
crackdown known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there was
no indication ERO officers were being sent to Italy.

That distinction, however, wasn't immediately clear to local media
Tuesday morning.

ITALY REACTS TO U.S. SECURITY DEPLOYMENT

The reaction among some in Italy not only reflects a worsening
perception abroad of the administration's tactics on immigration but
also underscores a broader rift between the U.S. under President
Donald Trump and its international allies.

Vague reports that ICE would be deployed in some capacity surfaced
over the weekend, resulting in a series of online petitions gathering
support of people opposed to the presence of ICE at the Games. They
followed an RAI news report that aired Sunday showing an Italian news
crew being threatened in Minneapolis by ICE agents. Trump's
immigration crackdown has in recent weeks intensified in Minneapolis,
leading to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens at the hands of
federal immigration officers.

Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said that ICE would not be welcome in his
city, which is hosting the Feb. 6 opening ceremony to be attended by
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, as well as most ice sports.

"This is a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the homes of
people, signing their own permission slips. It is clear they are not
welcome in Milan, without a doubt," Sala told RTL Radio 102.

Italy's Interior Ministry said later that the HSI investigators would
be stationed at a control room at the U.S. Consulate in Milan, in a
support role with other U.S. law enforcement agencies, and that they
would not include personnel involved in immigration controls in the
United States. It noted in a statement issued after Interior Minister
Matteo Piantedosi and U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta met Tuesday
morning that HSI agents are present in more than 50 countries,
including, for many years, Italy.

"All of the security operations in the territory remain as always the
exclusive responsibility and direction of Italian authorities,'' the
ministry said.

ICE UNITS BREAKDOWN

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is broken into various arms.
Enforcement and Removal Operations is the part of the agency that is
tasked with monitoring, arresting and removing foreigners who no
longer have the right to be in the U.S. They're the officers most
directly tasked with carrying out Trump's mass deportation agenda.

Another arm of ICE is Homeland Security Investigations. Agents from
HSI conduct investigations into anything that has a cross-border
nexus, from human smuggling to fentanyl trafficking to smuggling of
cultural artifacts. Agents from HSI are stationed in embassies around
the world to facilitate their investigations and build relations with
local law enforcement in those countries.

The ICE agents deployed to Italy for the Games will have a different
role from the one seen in immigration crackdowns in the U.S.,
officials have stressed.

"Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in
foreign countries,″ the Department of Homeland Security said in a
statement Tuesday.

"At the Olympics, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations is supporting
the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service and host
nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal
organizations. All security operations remain under Italian
authority."

A U.S official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security
measures said the general public likely wouldn't even see or be aware
of the HSI agents on the ground during the Olympics. The official said
HSI agents would be working behind the scenes, mainly in offices or
the U.S. consulate in Milan, as they have done during previous
international events.

For years HSI distanced itself from anything having to do with
deportations or immigration enforcement. At one point, it got new
branding and email addresses to set it apart because agents working in
parts of the country with strong political opposition to immigration
enforcement wouldn't get their emails answered because they had
ICE.gov addresses.

Under the Trump administration, however, HSI agents have been working
more closely with ICE's other arm -- the deportation officers -- to
focus more on immigration issues. They've been going out on operations
with deportation officers and focusing more on immigration fraud
cases.

REACTION UNDERSCORES FRAUGHT TIES

The International Olympic Committee said in a statement that security
"is the responsibility of the authorities of the host country, who
work closely with the participating delegations."

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said that it works with the
U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service, the IOC and
the host nation for security planning, "but not with U.S. domestic law
enforcement or immigration agencies.''

The reaction in Italy highlights increasingly fraught relations
between Trump and the United States' traditional allies in Europe,
which have been tested during the president's second term over his
threats to take over Greenland.

Piantedosi presided over a meeting of law enforcement and intelligence
services Tuesday to discuss security for the Games. More than 6,000
police and other agents will be deployed to secure what is billed as
the most spread out Games in Olympic history, involving seven towns
and cities spread across a broad swath of northern Italy from Milan to
the Austrian border.

The Interior Minister is Italy's top law enforcement official, charged
with security for the Games, which is coordinated with regional
prefects.

Asked about the potential deployment over the weekend, he gave a
diplomatic shrug: "I don't see what the problem would be,″ the news
agency ANSA quoted him as saying. 

* ICE
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* Olympics
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* Olympics 2026
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* Milan Olympics
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* Italy
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* Europe
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* Immigration
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* Donald Trump
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* sports
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* Minneapolis
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* Minnesota
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* Renee Good
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* Alex Pretti
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