Immigration and Customs Enforcement is going to provide security at the Olympics.
No, silly, not at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles—at the Winter Olympics next month in Milano Cortina, Italy.
As you can imagine, Italians aren’t exactly thrilled to find out that an agency that has transformed itself into a murderous band of masked secret police will now be acting as “security” in their country.
Protesters demonstrate against Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 12 after Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
The Trump administration is spinning this as a normal, noncontroversial occurrence, with the Department of Homeland Security issuing a statement on Tuesday saying that “As in previous Olympic events, multiple federal agencies are supporting the Diplomatic Security Service, including Homeland Security Investigations, ICE’s investigative component.”
That “support” role seems to be news to the International Olympic Committee, which explained in a statement that security “is the responsibility of the authorities of the host country, who work closely with the participating delegations.”
It also seems to be news to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, which said it works with the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, the IOC, and the host country, ”but not with U.S. domestic law enforcement or immigration agencies.’'
HSI tries to distinguish itself from immigration enforcement efforts, instead ostensibly focusing on transnational crime and terrorism. That distinction has always been a bit porous, but during Trump 2.0, HSI personnel have been increasingly reassigned to do rip-and-run raids just like their fellow ICE agents. You need only peep HSI St. Paul’s X account to see that all they’re doing these days is the same thing as every other federal agent dumped in a blue city: terrorizing immigrants and residents.
After announcing this little surprise trip to Italy, DHS officials offered this assurance: “Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries.” They also promised that all security operations would remain under the control of Italian authorities.
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Those assurances ring a little hollow, given that ICE’s position stateside is that all its actions are completely great and lawful and also that no local authority can tell them what to do. Italians can be forgiven for not seeing this vague statement as either true or meaningful.
According to DHS, they need HSI agents to support the Diplomatic Security Service and Italy to “vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations.” It does not appear that the host nation has asked for such a thing at all, however.
HSI personnel are also apparently needed as bodyguards—or at least that is how Attilo Fontana, the president of the Lombardy region, explained it.
"ICE will only be here to watch over U.S. Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio,” he said. Fontana went on to confirm that he might be the most gullible or most disingenuous guy around:
"So it will only be in a defensive measure. I am convinced that nothing will happen," he said.
Sure, definitely a safe bet that ICE personnel will in no way behave violently or exceed their authority, as they’ve done such a great job sticking to the law so far.
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Fontana later had to clarify that he was responding to a hypothetical question and didn’t have specific information about Vance and Rubio. Okay then.
This announcement comes on the heels of ICE agents surrounding the vehicle of a Minnesota activist carrying two Italian journalists over the weekend. After boxing them in, even after they identified themselves as press, an agent told them on camera, “This is the only warning. If you keep following us from this point on, you are on camera right now, we will break your window, and we will pull you out of the vehicle.”
Some Italian officials are soothing themselves with the fiction that the federal agents headed to Milano will not be the same types who have been rampaging through American cities in an unchecked, violent rage. The Italian interior ministry said the HSI investigators “will not be operational personnel like those employed in immigration controls in the United States, but rather representatives exclusively specialised in investigations.”
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala attends the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics cauldron lighting in Rome on Dec. 5, 2025.
Italy’s foreign minister said ICE could not deploy on Italian streets and that “public order” would be handled by Italian law enforcement, but also explained that “It’s not like the SS are coming.”
Kinda gives away the game if you feel the need to make that distinction.
In contrast to those mealymouthed statements extending trust that the Trump administration in no way deserves, Giuseppe Sala, the mayor of Milan—which will host the opening ceremony and most ice sports events—knows what is what.
“This is a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the homes of people, signing their own permission slips,” Sala said. “It is clear they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt.”
One of the weirdest and worst parts of Trump 2.0 is the administration’s steadfast refusal to concede that other countries have autonomy and different values. Sending ICE to the Olympics is just another “screw you” to the world from the United States, whose government no longer believes in the international order.
