Italy vows no operational police role for ICE at Olympics

Agents from the US immigration enforcement agency ICE will have no operational role in the Winter Olympics, Italy’s interior minister said Wednesday, two days before the Milan-Cortina Games open.

ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arm will operate within US diplomatic missions only and “are not operational agents” and “have no executive function”, Matteo Piantedosi told parliament.

He said the outrage over their presence, which included the Milan mayor warning they were not welcome in the city during the February 6-22 Games, was “completely unfounded”.

The HSI investigates global threats, including the illegal movement of people, goods and weapons, and is separate from the department carrying out the US immigration crackdown that has sparked widespread protests.

Piantedosi noted it was standard for countries to send security officials to the Olympics, with Italy having sent them to Paris for the 2024 Games.

“ICE does not and will never be able to carry out operational police activities on our national territory,” he emphasised.

The prospect of ICE agents, currently embroiled in an often brutal crackdown on illegal immigration in the United States, operating on Italian soil has sparked widespread outrage in the country.

The US State Department said that the HSI has in the past taken part in other Olympics events.

The US ambassador to Italy, Tilman J. Fertitta, previously said the HSI will be “strictly advisory and intelligence-based, with no patrolling or enforcement involvement”.

“At the Olympics, HSI criminal investigators will contribute their expertise by providing intelligence on transnational criminal threats, with a focus on cybercrimes and national security threats,” said Fertittta last week.

But the row continues. A pop-up hospitality house organised by US Figure Skating, USA Hockey and US Speedskating at a hotel in Milan has even changed its name from “Ice House” to “Winter House”, according to US media.

– Snipers and skiiers –

Italian authorities are preparing a major security operation for the Olympics, which will draw world leaders including US Vice President JD Vance, who is attending Friday’s opening ceremony in Milan.

Some 6,000 police plus nearly 2,000 military personnel are being deployed across the Games area, which stretches across half a dozen sites from Milan to the Dolomites, officials said.

Bomb disposal experts, snipers, anti-terrorism units and skiing policemen are among those deployed, Piantedosi said.

The defence ministry is also providing 170 vehicles plus radars, drones and aircraft.

Several protests have been planned for the opening weekend of the Games, focusing on their environmental impact as well as the politics of the event.

Pro-Palestinian activists are planning a demonstration during the arrival of the Olympic flame in Milan on Thursday, to protest Israel’s participation in the Games amid the war in Gaza.

Demonstrations are also expected to coincide with the opening ceremony at Milan’s San Siro stadium on Friday, with a further march planned in the city on Saturday.

One protest organisation in Milan calls itself the Unsustainable Olympics Committee — a play on the official International Olympics Committee (IOC).

Critics of the Winter Games complain about the impact of infrastructure — from new buildings to transport — on fragile mountain environments, as well as the widespread and energy-intensive use of artificial snow.

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