ICE will accompany the U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympics in Italy next month, the Department for Homeland Security confirmed on Tuesday, stoking a backlash among Italians angered by the conduct of ICE agents in Minneapolis.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will join a security team from the State Department at the Olympics “to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations,” D.H.S. said in a statement attributed to Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary for public affairs.
“All security operations remain under Italian authority,” the statement said, adding that ICE “does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries.”
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to attend the start of the games on Feb. 6, and 232 American athletes are set to compete in the events.
ICE officials rarely, if ever, accompany a diplomatic delegation. In a statement Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said that “as in previous Olympic events, multiple federal agencies are supporting the Diplomatic Security Service, including Homeland Security Investigations, ICE’s investigative component.”
Despite the caveats by U.S. officials, news of the agency’s involvement has spurred outcry in Italy, particularly after the killing by ICE and Border Patrol agents of two American citizens during recent protests in Minneapolis.
The Italian government said on Tuesday that it was seeking clarification from American diplomats after reports emerged over the weekend that ICE would attend the Games in Italy.
Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister, told reporters that ICE agents would not be allowed to deploy on Italian streets.
The Italian government’s intervention followed growing outrage from Italian politicians over the agency’s presence at the Games.
Giuseppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, said in a telephone interview that the Italian government should “say no to Trump.”
Mr. Sala added: “Bringing to Milan a militia which distinguished itself — this is not my opinion — with criminal acts, which kills, which enters in the homes of American citizens without authorization, I do not think that that is a good idea.”
Elly Schlein, leader of the country’s center-left Democratic Party, said in an interview that she was concerned about the arrival in Italy of “an armed militia that is not respecting the law on American soil.” She added: “And so there is the concern that they would not respect them on Italian soil either.”
After the first reports on the subject emerged over the weekend, Matteo Piantedosi, Italy’s interior minister, told reporters on Monday that the situation was “a controversy over nothing,” adding that the U.S. government had not yet confirmed that ICE officers would join the American delegation. “But I specify — whatever the communication will be, ICE, as such, will never operate in Italy,” Mr. Piantedosi said.
In separate remarks over the weekend, Mr. Piantedosi said that foreign delegations had the right to choose who staff their security teams, and that “I don’t see what the problem is.” He added that it was “absolutely forbidden” for foreign officers “to carry out police or similar activities on our soil, especially if they are related to combating immigration. Anyone who, while engaging in institutional politics, ignores these basic rules and claims otherwise is either incompetent or acting in bad faith.”
Mr. Piantedosi’s weekend comments generated a furor. Writing in La Stampa, an Italian newspaper, journalist Francesco Malfetano described ICE as an institution that “for many, not only across the Atlantic, is synonymous with fear.”
Mr. Piantedosi could not be immediately reached on Tuesday morning.
Reporting was contributed by Josephine de La Bruyère, Madeleine Ngo and Elisabetta Povoledo.
Motoko Rich is the Times bureau chief in Rome, where she covers Italy, the Vatican and Greece.
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