{"id":255372,"date":"2026-01-28T05:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T05:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/255372\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T05:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T05:35:10","slug":"us-sends-ice-unit-to-winter-olympics-prompting-concern-confusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/255372\/","title":{"rendered":"US sends ICE unit to Winter Olympics prompting concern, confusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

News that a unit of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would be present during the upcoming Winter Games has set off concern and confusion in Italy. People have expressed outrage at the inclusion of an agency that has dominated headlines for leading the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Homeland Security Investigations, a unit within ICE that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events such as the Olympics to assist with security. <\/p>\n

HSI officers are separate from the ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration crackdown known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there was no indication that ERO officers were being sent to Italy.<\/p>\n

That distinction, however, wasn\u2019t immediately clear to local media on Tuesday morning (local time).<\/p>\n

Italy reacts to US security deployment<\/p>\n

The reaction among some in Italy reflects not only a worsening perception abroad of the administration’s tactics on immigration<\/a> but also underscores a broader rift between the US under President Donald Trump and its international allies.<\/p>\n

Vague reports that ICE would be deployed in some capacity surfaced over the weekend, resulting in a series of online petitions gathering support of people opposed to the presence of ICE at the Games. They followed a RAI news report that aired Sunday showing an Italian news crew being threatened in Minneapolis by ICE agents. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown has in recent weeks intensified in Minneapolis<\/a>, leading to the fatal shootings of two US citizens<\/a> at the hands of federal immigration officers.<\/p>\n

Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said that ICE would not be welcome in his city, which is hosting the February 6 opening ceremony to be attended by US Vice President JD Vance, as well as most ice sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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,\u201d Sala told RTL Radio 102.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This photo shows the snowboarding and freestyle skiing events which will take place during the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Livigno, Italy (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s Interior Ministry said later that the HSI investigators would be stationed at a control room at the US Consulate in Milan, in a support role with other US law enforcement agencies, and that they would not include personnel involved in immigration controls in the United States. <\/p>\n

It noted in a statement issued after Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and US Ambassador Tilman Fertitta met Tuesday morning that HSI agents are present in more than 50 countries, including for many years Italy.<\/p>\n

“All of the security operations in the territory remain as always the exclusive responsibility and direction of Italian authorities,” the ministry said.<\/p>\n

ICE units breakdown<\/p>\n

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is broken into various arms. <\/p>\n

Enforcement and Removal Operations is the part of the agency that is tasked with monitoring, arresting and removing foreigners<\/a> who no longer have the right to be in the US. They\u2019re the officers most directly tasked with carrying out Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another arm of ICE is Homeland Security Investigations. Agents from HSI conduct investigations into anything that has a cross-border nexus, from human smuggling to fentanyl trafficking to smuggling of cultural artefacts. <\/p>\n

Agents from HSI are stationed in embassies around the world to facilitate their investigations and build relations with local law enforcement in those countries.<\/p>\n

The ICE agents deployed to Italy for the Games will have a different role from the one seen in immigration crackdowns in the US, officials have stressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,\u2033 the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the Olympics, ICE\u2019s Homeland Security Investigations is supporting the US Department of State\u2019s Diplomatic Security Service and the host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations. <\/p>\n

“All security operations remain under Italian authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

A US official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security measures said the general public likely wouldn\u2019t even see or be aware of the HSI agents on the ground during the Olympics. <\/p>\n

The official said HSI agents would be working behind the scenes, mainly in offices or the US consulate in Milan, as they have done during previous international events.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A large crowd gathers at the scene where federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

For years, HSI distanced itself from anything having to do with deportations or immigration enforcement. At one point, they got new branding and email addresses to set themselves apart because agents working in parts of the country with strong political opposition to immigration enforcement wouldn\u2019t get their emails answered because they had an ICE.gov address.<\/p>\n

Under the Trump administration, however, HSI agents have been working closer with ICE\u2019s other arm \u2014 the deportation officers \u2014 to focus more on immigration issues. They\u2019ve been going out on operations with deportation officers<\/a> and focusing more on immigration fraud cases.<\/p>\n

Reaction underscores fraught ties<\/p>\n

The International Olympic Committee underlined in a statement that security \u201cis the responsibility of the authorities of the host country, who work closely with the participating delegations\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee said that it works with the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the IOC and the host nation for security planning, \u201dbut not with US domestic law enforcement or immigration agencies”.<\/p>\n

The reaction in Italy highlights increasingly fraught relations between Trump and the US’ traditional allies in Europe, which have been tested during the president’s second term over his threats to take over Greenland.<\/p>\n

Piantedosi presided over a meeting of law enforcement and intelligence services on Tuesday to discuss security for the Games. <\/p>\n

More than 6000 police and other agents will be deployed to secure what is billed as the most spread out Games in Olympic history, involving seven towns and cities spread across a broad swath of northern Italy from Milan to the Austrian border.<\/p>\n

The Interior Minister is Italy\u2019s top law enforcement official, charged with security for the Games, which is coordinated with regional prefects.<\/p>\n

Asked about the potential deployment over the weekend, he gave a diplomatic shrug: \u201cI don\u2019t see what the problem would be,\u2033 the news agency ANSA quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Police appeal for help over spate of robberies, Melania speaks about Minneapolis protests, and a tennis star\u2019s meltdown caught on camera. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News that a unit of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would be present during the upcoming Winter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,64,5106,40,38,41,39,1745],"class_list":["post-255372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-olympics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}