'Militia that kills’: Milan mayor says US ICE agents not welcome at Winter Olympics
Milan’s mayor has denounced plans for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to have a security role at the upcoming Winter Olympics, describing the federal officers as a “militia that kills.”
ICE said its Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) team will assist the US Department of State and Italian authorities in vetting and mitigating risks from transnational criminal organizations, with all operations remaining under Italian control.
Confirmation of the deployment to the Milano-Cortina Games, which begin next week, sparked immediate anger. Milan's Mayor Giuseppe Sala said on Tuesday that the ICE agents are “not welcome” at the Winter Olympics.
“This is a militia that kills,” Sala said. “It is a militia that enters people’s homes by signing permits for themselves. It is clear they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt.”
The mayor also questioned Italy’s ability to resist US pressure. “Can we say no to Trump, just for once?” he asked.
“ICE officers shouldn’t come to Italy because they are not aligned with our democratic way of managing security. We can take care of our security ourselves.”
ICE emphasized that its operations in Italy are separate from the immigration crackdown in the US. “Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,” the agency said.
Alessandro Zan, a member of the European Parliament for Italy’s center-left Democratic Party, called ICE “Trump’s private police force” and condemned its deployment as “unacceptable.”
He wrote on X that in Italy, “we don’t want those who trample on human rights and act outside of any democratic control.”
US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to attend the opening ceremony in Milan on February 6.
In recent weeks, Minnesota has become a flashpoint in US President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown, known as Operation Metro Surge, which has led to the deployment of thousands of federal agents from ICE and other agencies across the Minneapolis‑Saint Paul area and beyond.
The crackdown has drawn widespread outrage after federal immigration agents shot and killed two US citizens in separate incidents in Minneapolis.
The deadly shooting in Minneapolis has ignited mass protests in sub-zero temperatures, driven urgent demands from state officials for the withdrawal of federal immigration agents, and intensified legal and public-safety debates over the conduct and accountability of ICE and Border Patrol officers deployed under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
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