U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel will help protect U.S. delegations at the Winter Olympics in Italy, a U.S. embassy source said on Tuesday, confirming local media reports and prompting anger among some Italian politicians.

ICE and Border Patrol agents have come under heavy criticism in the United States over their enforcement of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown after two U.S. citizens were shot dead in separate incidents this month in the state of Minnesota.

The embassy source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division would back up the U.S. State Department’s security service at the February 6-22 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

The HSI agents will not carry out any immigration enforcement activity while in Italy but will rather aim to “mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations”, the source said, without elaborating.

“All security operations remain under Italian authority,” the source added.

Spokespeople for ICE did not immediately respond to questions about deployment in Italy.

HSI has been present at major sport events in both the U.S. and abroad in the past, including the Super Bowl and Olympic Games overseas, as part of international partnerships related to human trafficking and drug trafficking, one former official said. While HSI’s mission is to focus on transnational crime, many agents in the U.S. have been detailed to support routine immigration enforcement.

The U.S. embassy source said HSI had also been present at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

ICE Involvement Stirs Anger, Protests in Italy

However, some Italian politicians, including the leader of one of the parties in the right-wing coalition of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, an ally of Trump, have criticised the involvement of ICE in next month’s Games.

“It seems sheer idiocy to me,” Maurizio Lupi, leader of the Noi Moderati party in Meloni’s governing coalition, told la Repubblica daily, while recognising that Italian law enforcement bodies may need to coordinate with foreign counterparts.

The left-leaning mayor of Milan, one of the cities co-hosting the Olympics, called ICE “a militia that kills”.

Speaking to RTL 102.5 radio, Giuseppe Sala said: “It’s clear that they’re not welcome in Milan, there’s no doubt about it.”

Italia Viva, a centrist opposition party led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, said ICE agents should be barred from Italy.

“ICE, Trump’s anti‑immigration militia, is a symbol of violence, repression, abuse and human-rights violations. Accepting their presence in Italy is madness,” the party wrote on X.

The hard-left USB trade union said it would hold an “ICE OUT – From Minneapolis to Milan” rally in central Milan on February 6, to coincide with the opening ceremony.

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(Additional reporting by Ted Hesson and Brad Heath in Washington; Editing by Gareth Jones)