US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will be present in Milan and Cortina throughout the Winter Olympics.
ICE agents will reportedly play ‘security role’ throughout the sporting extravaganza, which begins on February 6 in Italy, the US Embassy in Rome reportedly confirmed to the Associated Press.
The federal ICE agents will reportedly support diplomatic security details and would not run any immigration enforcement operations.
However, ICE’s presence at the games has sparked controversy amid growing unrest back in the United States, after agents moved in to Minnesota on the orders of the Trump administration.
The news came on Tuesday after the deaths of two American citizens at the hands of federal officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in less than three weeks.
Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, was shot and killed after a struggle with federal agents on Saturday after he allegedly confronted officers during a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) operation in the city.
His death came just two weeks after 37-year-old Renee Good was fatally shot in her car by an Immigration and Customs (ICE) officer.
Their deaths have sparked a political firestorm throughout the US, and the agents will not be well-received in Italy.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said that ICE would not be welcome in his city, which is hosting most ice sports during the February 6-22 Winter Games.
‘This is a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the homes of people, signing their own permission slips. It is clear they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt,’ Sala told RTL Radio 102 before ICE’s deployment to the Games was confirmed.