Plans for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to assist with security at the forthcoming Milan Cortina Olympics have provoked anger from both serving and former Italian officials.
“This is a militia that kills,” Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said to Italian media outlet RTL Radio 102, as reported. “A militia that enters people’s homes, authorizing its own actions. They are clearly not welcome in Milan, without question.”
On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin verified to TIME that ICE personnel will assist American security efforts during the Winter Games, scheduled for Feb. 6-22 in Milan and Cortina D’Ampezzo.
“Naturally, ICE does not perform immigration enforcement activities abroad,” McLaughlin stated. “During the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations is aiding the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and the host country in screening for and reducing threats from transnational criminal groups. Italian authorities retain full control over all security operations.”
U.S. federal agents have been involved in American security details at past Olympics, and some Italian leaders seemed unconcerned about ICE officers taking on a similar function for the Milan Cortina Games.
“Let’s be precise: they are not coming to police the streets,” Antonio Tajani, Italy’s Foreign Minister, told the national radio station RAI, according to reports. “They are coming to work together in command centers.”
However, other officials, including Sala, were strongly opposed to the announcement, pointing to increasing scrutiny of ICE’s actions in the United States. Earlier this month, an ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of three in Minneapolis. Within the following three weeks, federal agents in the same city fatally shot a 37-year-old U.S. citizen who was a registered nurse.
“Following street violence and killings in the USA, we now learn from their spokesperson that ICE agents will come to Italy for security at the Milan-Cortina Olympics,” former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote in a social media post on Tuesday. “We cannot allow this.”
Conte urged Italy’s present government—headed by one of President Donald Trump’s strongest European allies—to “establish our own limits” and “take definitive action.”
Sala told RTL Radio 102 that he believed ICE agents should not attend the Games “because they do not ensure their methods match our democratic approach to security management,” as reported. He proposed that Italian officials resist the Trump Administration.
“Could we ever tell Trump ‘No’?” he asked. “This isn’t about cutting ties or causing a diplomatic crisis, but is it possible for us to say ‘No’?”
Italian politician Carlo Calenda stated to RTL Radio 102 that ICE officers “must not set foot in Italy,” CNN reported.
“It is a violent, unprepared, and out-of-control militia,” he said.
