Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala arrives in the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy, on December 7. On Tuesday, he decried the plan for ICE agents to provide security in his city during the Winter Olympics. File Photo by Matteo Corner/EPA
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are expected to travel to Italy to assist with security during the Winter Olympics, sparking dismay among Milan’s leaders Tuesday.
Attilio Fontana, president of Italy’s Lombardy region, said Monday that ICE agents would serve as bodyguards to U.S. Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the Olympics, The Guardian reported.
A statement from ICE, confirmed by the U.S. Embassy in Rome, said the U.S. agency wouldn’t be in charge of any enforcement operations in Italy during the Olympics.
“At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) 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.”
Milan’s center-left mayor, Giuseppe Sala, told RTL radio that, “ICE agents should not come to Italy because they are not aligned with our democratic way of providing security.”
ICE and U.S. Border patrol have come under scrutiny in the United States and abroad amid ramped-up immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Thousands of federal immigration agents have been deployed to the state, primarily Minneapolis and St. Paul.
At least eight U.S. citizens and immigrants have died in ICE custody or during interactions with federal immigration agents in 2026. The most recent killing was of ICU nurse Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot several times while protesting on Saturday.
“This is a militia that kills,” Sala said on the radio, as translated by ANSA. “Can’t we say ‘no’ to [President Donald] Trump for once? It is clear that they are not welcome in Milan.”
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani defended ICE’s presence in Milan, saying the agents wouldn’t be carrying out operations on the streets.
“Let’s be clear: It’s not as if they’ll come to do public-order [activities] in the middle of the street,” he told reporters after a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in Rome.
“They’ll come to cooperate in the operations room.”
He said Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi is expected to meet with the U.S. ambassador on Tuesday to clarify ICE’s role during the Olympics.
Current and former Italian lawmakers have called on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to ban ICE agents from participating in any official capacity in Italy, CNN reported. Former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte urged the government to “set our own limits” with the United States.
“After street violence and murders in the U.S., we now learn from their spokesperson that ICE agents will come to Italy to ensure security at the Milan-Cortina Olympics,” he wrote on X.
“We cannot allow this. Our government tried to downplay the situation, but these latest statements speak clearly of ICE’s determination to come and ensure ‘security’ in Italy as well. Enough with the bowing.”
The Winter Olympics are set to begin Feb. 6.
Team USA marks 100 days until Olympic Winter Games in Milan
Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn attends the Team USA Media Summit at the Javits Center on October 28, 2025 in New York City. Photo by Peter Foley/UPI | License Photo
