The United States government will be sending a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to Italy to help with American security for the 2026 Winter Olympics, according the CNN. A spokesperson told the outlet that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a unit within ICE, will be used as "a security role" during the Games, which will be held from February 6 through 22 in Milan and Cortina.
HSI is the investigative arm of ICE. The group monitors a range of illegal activities, from human trafficking and child exploitation to terrorism, narcotics smuggling, and more. This branch of ICE is different from the one that has been at the center of President Trump's immigration crackdown, which is called the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) unit. Both American and Italian officials have been trying to emphasize the distinction between the departments.
In a post on X, Homeland Security wrote:
Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries. At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations is supporting the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations. All security operations remain under Italian authority.
The Italian Interior Ministry also chimed in via a social media post, per CNN:
“It is important to reiterate that Homeland Security Investigation investigators will not be represented by operational personnel like those engaged in immigration controls in the US, but by representatives exclusively specialized in investigations."
As of now, there hasn't been any word that ERO agents, like those in Minneapolis, will be going to Milan or Cortina. But given all that's been happening with Trump's immigration crackdown across the country, and the two deaths this month by ICE and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, many Italian lawmakers are not supportive of any ICE presence in the country—regardless of the unit.
Milan's Mayor Giuseppe Sala told a local Italian radio station that ICE is "a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the homes of people, signing their own permission slips," according to AP News. He added: "It is clear they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt."
In a statement to CNN, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee highly underscored that it does not partner with ICE or any “US domestic law enforcement or immigration agencies in the planning or execution of the Games." The statement went on: “As with every Olympic and Paralympic Games for more than three decades, the USOPC works in coordination with [The Diplomatic Security Service], the International Olympic Committee, and the host nation to support Games security planning."
Christen A. Johnson is the senior lifestyle editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers health and wellness, home, sports, astrology, food, travel and more for print and digital. She also dabbles in culture writing, and wrote Cosmo's first-ever digital cover story. Before joining the magazine, Christen was a lifestyle features reporter at the Chicago Tribune. Several of her health and style stories made the paper's front page. When Christen isn't digging through antique stores, she's likely drooling over home renos on HGTV, sharing her latest therapy revelation, redoing old workouts from her college basketball days, or trying to perfect her homemade buttermilk biscuit recipe. Follow her on Insta for BTS ~ editor life ~ tingz!
