The US Department of Homeland Security announced this Tuesday (27) that it will send agents from the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) to reinforce the security of the American delegation at the Winter Olympic Games.
The news quickly generated reactions from the government of Italy, the country that will host the event next month, after recent episodes involving agents and protesters in Minneapolis that resulted in the deaths of two civilians.
According to the Donald Trump administration, ICE employees will join a State Department security team at the Olympic Games “to assess and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations,” according to a statement from Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary for public affairs.
“All security operations remain under Italian authority,” the text says, emphasizing that ICE “does not carry out immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries.”
After the announcement, the Italian government stated that it is awaiting clarification from American diplomats regarding ICE’s participation in the Winter Olympic Games.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters on Tuesday that agents would not be allowed to roam Italian streets during the event. He added that “public order during the Olympic Games” would be maintained only by Italian national and local police, but stopped short of saying that American agents would be restricted to operations rooms.
The information also generated outrage from the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, who declared in a telephone interview cited by The New York Times that the Italian government should “say no to Trump”.
He called ICE a “militia that kills” and said agents were not welcome in the Italian city.
