U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will have a security role at the upcoming 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games, according to information shared with local media at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, which was independently confirmed by the Associated Press with two sources at the embassy.
The sources, who were kept anonymous as they hadn’t been authorized to speak publicly, confirmed the reported ICE participation on Tuesday (January 27), claiming the agency would support diplomatic security details and wouldn’t perform and immigration enforcement operations during the event. Several federal agencies had supported security for U.S. diplomats during past Olympic games, including Homeland Security Investigations, an investigative component of ICE, the sources confirmed to the Associated Press.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala told an Italian radio show that ICE wouldn’t be welcome in the Olympic host city during the event scheduled to be held from February 6 to February 22.
“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 said prior to the reports confirming the federal agency’s deployment, according to the Associated Press.
ICE’s role was previously reported over the weekend amid conflicting statements from Italian authorities who didn’t want the federal agency to be present at the Winter Olympics. The confirmation comes days after Alex Pretti, 37, a registered nurse who worked in the ICU at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, was fatally shot by an ICE agent on Saturday (January 24), which came weeks after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent, both taking place in Minneapolis during protests.
Videos shared online appeared to show Pretti being taken down by multiple ICE agents and disarmed before an officer fired multiple shots during an anti-ICE demonstration in Minneapolis, conflicting claims made by President Donald Trump‘s administration that he pulled a gun on officers.
Trump acknowledged that Pretti was armed and carrying two extra magazines at the time of his death, while White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller claimed Pretti was a “would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal law enforcement” and labeled him as a “domestic terrorist” via FOX News. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison demanded that a “full, impartial, and transparent investigation” be held in connection with the shooting while a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from “destroying or altering” evidence linked to the incident, Axois reports.
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