Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE) American will have no operational role in the Winter Olympic Gamesdeclared this Wednesday the Minister of the Interior of Italy, two days before the event officially begins in the north of the country.
The recent raids against migrants undocumented immigrants by ICE agents in Minneapolis, in the northern United States, caused outrage and led to large protests. Two Americans, Renee Good and Alex Prettiwere killed by federal agents in the framework of these operations.
But the Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, specified in Parliament that the agents of the internal security service (HSI), a division of ICE, will operate only within US diplomatic missions and that “they are not operational agents” nor “they have executive functions.”
Piantedosi considered that the outrage generated by their presence, which led the mayor of Milan to warn that they were not welcome during the Games that will take place from February 6 to 22, was “totally unfounded.”
The HSI investigates global threats, including illegal movements of people, goods and weapons, and is a separate department from that in charge of anti-immigration raids.
The minister pointed out that it is common for countries to send security officers to the Olympic Games, and that Italy did the same at the 2024 Paris Games.
“ICE does not and will never carry out operational police activities in our national territory,” he insisted.
To guarantee the security of the Olympic event, Italy will deploy some 6,000 police officers and nearly 2,000 soldiers in the Games area, which covers half a dozen sites from Milan to the Dolomites, Piantedosi said.
Among the mobilized troops, there are bomb disposal specialists, snipersanti-terrorist units and ski police, added the minister.
The Ministry of Defense said it will deploy 170 vehicles, in addition to radars, drones and aerial means.
