‘A militia that kills’: uproar in Italy over ICE security role at Winter Olympics

The Olympic rings in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Two opposition parties have begun petitions calling on the government to prevent ICE agents entering Italy. Photograph: Claudia Greco/Reuters

A unit of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will have a security role in the Winter Olympic Games in Italy, sparking uproar and petitions against the deployment.

Sources at the US embassy in Rome confirmed a statement from ICE, the agency embroiled in a brutal immigration crackdown in the US, saying that federal agents would support diplomatic security details during the Milan-Cortina Games but would not run any enforcement operations.