ICE agents accused of killing people on the streets of US cities will provide security at the Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina will take place from February 6-22, and the opening ceremony will be attended by both JD Vance, the Vice President of the United States of America, and Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State.

Massive protests in the United States after ICE agents killed two people in Minneapolis

The USA is a country marked by numerous conflicts, which intensified after Donald Trump won his second term as president. Currently, one of the strongest debates in American society is related to the abusive interventions of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

According to the official website of the State Department agency, ICE's mission is to protect America through criminal investigations and enforcement of immigration laws to ensure national security and public safety.

But in less than 3 weeks, ICE officers shot and killed two people in Minneapolis, on Renee Good and Alex Prettiboth aged 37. The two operations outraged civil society and the month of January was marked by massive protests in several American cities.

US citizens accuse ICE agents of using excessive force to kill innocent people and call for the agency to be abolished. The protesters also have the support of American basketball starssuch as Steph Curry, Tyrese Haliburton or Breanna Stewart, who criticized ICE after Good and Pretti were shot in Minneapolis.

A moment of silence was held in memory of Alex Pretti ahead of the Warriors-Timberwolves game in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/N4O7GIM4QD

— ESPN (@espn) January 25, 2026

ICE officers will accompany the US delegation to the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics

In this context, the US State Department has announced that ICE officers will be present at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

“At the Olympics, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agency will support the US State Department's Diplomatic Security Service and the host country to investigate and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations“, the agency said in a statement.

“All security operations remain under Italian authorities. Obviously, ICE does not resort to immigration control operations in foreign countries,” added ICE, according to france24.com.

According to the aforementioned publication, the Italian authorities initially denied the presence of ICE and then tried to downplay any rolesuggesting that they would help with security only for the American delegation.

Second incident in 3 weeks in which a citizen is shot and killed by an ICE officer/Photo: Imago Images

What is HSI's role and how are State Department agencies trying to wash their image

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations Branch (HSI) is a federal law enforcement agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that globally investigates crimes such as smuggling, financial, cyber, and human trafficking.

According to cbsnews.com, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that HSI is involved in the investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

On social networks, the official accounts of these departments and agencies try to combat the protest attitude of the citizens. The Department of Homeland Security claims that ICE officers are experiencing an 8000% increase in the number of death threats they receive.

Also, both the White House account and other accounts post cases of criminals arrested by ICE, including in Minnesota.