Demonstrators in Milan protest the role of US ICE forces in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Published January 31, 2026
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Milan on Saturday to protest the presence of ICE agents during the upcoming Winter Olympics, ignoring the fact that they will be stationed in control rooms and not on the streets.
(The protest in Piazza 25 April, a square named after the day of Italy’s liberation from Nazi fascism in 1945, was attended by members of the Left Democratic Party, the CGIL trade union federation, the ANPI organization preserving the memory of Italy’s partisan resistance during World War II, and many others.
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Organizers handed out plastic whistles, which participants blasted as music blared from a van. The protests were as much about what many saw as creeping fascism in the United States as they were about the news that officers from a division of ICE would be taking part in security for the U.S. delegation.
One banner read, “From Minnesota to the world, no thank you for standing by those fighting for human rights,” another said, “Never again means never again for everyone,” and another read “Ice Only in Spritz,” a reference to the popular aperitif.
News of the deployment of ICE officers sparked a backlash in Italy. Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said they were not welcome. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi was called to parliament this week to testify about the deployment.
Protester Silvana Grassi held up a placard that read “Ice = Gestapo.” She said the sight of ICE officers in Minneapolis shooting protesters and detaining children was deeply upsetting.
“When I remember it, I want to cry. It’s too terrible,” Grassi said. How did they choose such a terrible evil man? ”
The ICE officers sent to Milan are not from the same unit as the immigration officers policed in Minnesota and other U.S. cities.
Homeland Security Investigations is the ICE unit that focuses on transnational crime and frequently sends agents to overseas events, such as the Olympics, to assist with security. The ICE division, which is on the front line of immigration enforcement in the United States, is known as Operation Enforcement, and there is no indication that its officers will be sent to Italy.
“Even if it’s not the same thing, we don’t want them here,” Grassi said.
Paolo Bortoletto, who was also holding a banner, recognized that police officers have an investigative role, not a street role.
Still, he said, “We don’t want them in our country. We are a peaceful country. We don’t want fascists. It’s their ideas that bother us.”
The Olympics will begin on February 6 with an opening ceremony attended by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
