Protests swept through Milan at the prospect of agents from the American Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “providing security” at the Winter Olympics. This backlash comes as a result of the violence perpetrated by the agency in Minneapolis, including the recent murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE agents.
ICE’s presence at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games is not unusual; they have operated at previous international events, and many countries send their own security divisions to global events. This delegation is the division of ICE that works internationally, Homeland Security Investigations. They operate largely to provide intelligence and monitor transnational crime, and do not have a notable domestic presence. The agents who make arrests and handle removal of people are from the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division. ERO is the executor of the terror seen in Minneapolis this past month.
Although the ERO is not the division of ICE in Milan, this does not change the fact that their organization is one that the entire world has watched abuse U.S. citizens and treat non-citizens as sub-human, which has left a sour taste in the mouths of many Europeans. Not even a U.S. passport has protected people from those that wear the same badge as the officers currently in Milan; ICE has arrested American citizens, some held for more than a day without being allowed contact with legal representatives or family members, and many held for weeks before their release. This undoubtedly contributes to 77% of Italians having an unfavourable opinion of Trump, as ICE and the American president have become more and more entwined. He calls those that have been arrested by the agency “hardened, vicious, horrible criminals,” praising the agents that spread fear and unrest in the cities that he is supposed to protect.
In light of all these abuses, it’s no surprise that Milan’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala, has made it clear that ICE is “not welcome in Milan.” Hundreds of Italians attended a rally to oppose the arrival of ICE, many holding up “ICE OUT” signs, reflecting the disapproval of Trump and of ICE felt by Europe at large.
Italy’s Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, has said that ICE agents “have no capacity whatsoever, nor any authority, to operate in Italy” and that “their involvement is limited to analysis and information exchange with Italian authorities.” They “are not operational agents.” But that is not what people are concerned about.
The public is not under the impression that ICE is going to arrest and deport people in Italy; deport them to where? It is not about whether the agency is active on foreign soil. It is about ICE as a symbol of Trump’s overreach and the terror that his administration is enacting upon people on U.S. soil. Even the American athletes competing in the Winter Olympics reported being “heartbroken” over the state that their country is in. American freestyle halfpipe skier Hunter Hess told USA Today that ““wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.”
If even Olympians cannot throw their support behind this country, how are the rest of us supposed to feel? Surely after this level of backlash on the world stage, the time has come for the U.S. government to reevaluate how they are running this nation, and how its policies are affecting its people.
