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By Jasmine Laws and Shane Croucher
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Milan's Mayor Giuseppe Sala has said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents expected to conduct security operations at the Winter Olympics are "not welcome."
"This is a militia that kills," he told the Italian radio station RTL 102.5, according to the news agency AFP. "It's clear that they are not welcome in Milan, there's no doubt about it. Can't we just say no to Trump for once?"
ICE agents are expected to support diplomatic security details, and will not conduct any immigration enforcement operations, according to The Associated Press, citing unnamed sources.
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Newsweek contacted ICE and the Milan mayor's office for comment by email outside of regular working hours.
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Why It Matters
It comes after a Border Patrol agent fatally shot a 37-year-old ICU nurse, Alex Pretti, in Minnesota last week.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Saturday that the Border Patrol agent fired in self-defense, saying that Pretti had a handgun and resisted law enforcement. However, some eyewitnesses, officials, and Pretti's family have challenged that account. Videos have also not indicated that Pretti used any weapons to threaten agents.
The tragic incident happened just weeks after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
The Trump administration's Operation Metro Surge has also resulted in hundreds of arrests in the Twin Cities since it was launched in December.
What To Know
Sala's statement comes after Italy's interior minister Matteo Piantedosi said that ICE "will never operate in Italy," and that it was a "controversy about nothing," according to the local news outlet virgilio.it.
"At this moment the Americans, like everyone else, have not listed the types of presences that there will be here in Italy following the delegations," he said.
He also told the outlet: "We are talking about an event that has nothing to do with immigration."
An ICE spokesperson told AFP that the agency would be "supporting the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations."
The spokesperson added that "all security operations remain under Italian authority," and that "obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries."
During previous Olympics, several federal agencies have supported security for U.S. diplomats, including the investigative component of ICE called Homeland Security Investigations, according to AP.
What People Are Saying
Milan's mayor, Giuseppe Sala, told RTL Radio 102: "This is a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the homes of people, signing their own permission slips."
He added: "ICE officers shouldn't come to Italy because they are not aligned with our democratic way of managing security."
What Happens Next
The 2026 Winter Olympics is taking place in Milan-Cortina from February 6 to 22.
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Update 1/27/26 9.45 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information, including that Alex Pretti was killed by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minnesota.
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