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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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Hundreds of people took to the streets in Italy to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the weekend ahead of the Winter Olympics starting later this week.
Why It Matters
Demonstrations against ICE agents swept the U.S. with renewed force after federal immigration officers killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis last month.
Read More on World
Renée Good, a poet and mother of three, was shot and killed in the Minnesota city on January 7 and intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal agents on January 24. A federal judge on Saturday denied the state's request to stop thousands of immigration officials being deployed in Minnesota under what the U.S. government has termed Operation Metro Surge.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have criticized the consequences of the White House's immigration crackdown, while several celebrities at Sunday's Grammy Awards referenced the federal operations in their acceptance speeches or wore pins with the words "ICE Out."
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What To Know
Protesters gathered close to the U.S. Embassy in Milan holding signs that said, "No ICE," with the Winter Olympics logo below.
Riccardo Magi, an Italian lawmaker with the country's left-leaning More Europe party, published a video of himself holding a placard, accusing Rome's right-wing government of not opposing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's footprint in the city "out of fear of Trump's reaction."
"In the face of the violence of these past weeks in Minneapolis, we cannot remain silent," Magi said. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has said, "It's not like the SS are coming," in remarks reported by Italian media last week, referring to Adolf Hitler's Nazi paramilitary force.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, had said agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) would be in Milan to "vet and mitigate risks" during the competitive games.
HSI focuses on international crime and trafficking across the world and is not the same unit as ICE. The deployment itself is not unusual, but it stirred up anger because of the close association with ICE activity in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security said, "All security operations remain under Italian authority," in a statement echoed by Italian authorities.
Italy's government said HSI employees would remain at a control room in the U.S. Consulate in the city, according to the Associated Press. Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said ICE was not welcome in the northern Italian city, calling the agency a "militia that kills" during an interview with Italian radio.
The Winter Olympics, co-hosted by the cities of Milan and Cortina, officially kick off on Friday. U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to attend the opening ceremony.
Kirsty Coventry, the head of the International Olympic Committee, told reporters on Sunday that it was sad that topics such as ICE dominated the agenda ahead of the Games.
What People Are Saying
Kirsty Coventry, the head of the International Olympic Committee, said on Sunday: "I think anything that is distracting from these Games is sad."
Alessandro Zan, an Italian member of the European Parliament, said on January 26: "In Italy, we don't want those who trample on human rights and act outside of any democratic control."
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