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ICE Will Reportedly Be Used As Security At Winter Olympics
By Mike Stunson,Forbes Staff.
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Jan 27, 2026, 08:50am ESTJan 27, 2026, 09:56am EST

Topline
ICE agents will reportedly be used as security officers during next month’s Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games, but the Italian city’s mayor said the “militia” group is not welcome as the agency is under fire for the killing of two people in Minneapolis.

Key Facts
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents “would support diplomatic security details and would not run any immigration enforcement operations” at the Olympics, according to the Associated Press.

ICE said in a statement to AFP security operations for the Olympics would “remain under Italian authority.”

Its officers will be used as security for Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will attend the opening ceremonies to lead the American delegation.

The AP reports security at the Olympics has previously come through ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations agency, which “investigates crime on a global scale.”

Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala rejected ICE’s presence, referring to the U.S. agency as a “militia that kills” in an interview with RTL Radio, saying they are 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.”

“Can we say no to Trump, just this once? ICE Officers shouldn’t come to Italy because they are not aligned with our democratic way of managing security,” Sala told the radio station. ICE’s inclusion at the Olympics is also not welcomed by Alessandro Zan, a left-wing member of the European parliament, who said in a post on X, “In Italy, we don't want those who trample human rights and act outside any democratic control. It's unacceptable to think that an agency of this kind could have a role, whatever it may be, in our country.”

Key Background

Backlash against ICE continues to grow following last weekend’s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis. He is the second person this month to have been killed by a federal agent in the city, following Renee Good’s Jan. 7 death. It has led to growing calls for ICE to be removed from the city, with Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino set to leave Minnesota and no longer oversee the federal agency’s operations in the state. President Donald Trump said Monday he had “good” discussions with both Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, writing in a post on X: “Lots of progress is being made” about the unrest in the state.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestunso ... -olympics/

Huh? Have they run out of actual security personnel? WTF? That's not what they are trained for, even if they had been properly trained.

JD Vance ridiculed for 40-car motorcade taking him down tiny Italian street
The tiny streets of Milan witnessed an unusual parade: JD Vance's 100-car motorcade, a scene that left social media in disbelief.

Hannah Broughton
06:46 ET, 08 Feb 2026
Updated 06:50 ET, 08 Feb 2026


Vice President JD Vance's motorcade arrives at Excelsior Gallia Hotel

Vice President JD Vance is being ridiculed on social media for requiring a 100-car motorcade through narrow streets in Milan to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The planes carrying Vance and the U.S. delegation were also said to be holding staff, security, food, and vehicles, while the huge motorcade featured a flurry of Chevy Suburbans that could barely fit on the tiny streets of Milan.

“Some Scandinavian PMs bike to work or take the subway, the Romanian and Moldovan presidents just go by regular commercial flights. More or less the same goes for most European heads of state. JD Vance had 14 planes fly in this motorcade and his security detail to Italy,” one account on X said, with a video of the ridiculous-looking group of cars travelling through Milan.

“JD Vance went to meet Meloni in a 40-car motorcade full of Suburbans through the tiny streets of Milan,” added another.

One user also said, “His 100-vehicle motorcade required 14 planes to transport. Milanese streets are tiny & athletes can’t reach venues due to VANCE-generated traffic jams.”

“Vance has been a vocal critic of 'entrenched elites' and government waste, yet his own security footprint is one of the largest in history,” added another.

This comes after the vice president received a decidedly negative welcome from Italians at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. On Thursday, he and his wife, Usha, were booed loudly when they were shown on the big screen, and the footage went viral on social media.


Vance and his wife Usha Vance cheer for the United States team during the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics

Vance & family reportedly traveled to Milan with a fleet of 14 aircraft & a motorcade of 100 vehicles. 11 planes are for staff, former athletes & security; 1 plane is solely for food supplies & 2 are transporting the 100 armored vehicles.

The vice president also met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a close ally of the Trump administration in Europe, during his visit to Italy for the Olympic Games on Friday. The meeting comes just as Italy announced this weekend they were declining to join Trump's Board of Peace due to a “constitutional limit”. It marks the latest setback faced by the president's “international peace building body.”

Vance's weeklong trip is a blend of sports and diplomacy, as he meets with Meloni amid increasingly tense U.S. relations with Europe under President Donald Trump, who has disrupted the rules-based order that has been the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy since World War II.

Meanwhile, the president’s sidekick started his day at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, enjoying the opening session of the three-day team figure skating competition alongside his family and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Later in the evening, he attended the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Earlier, Vance’s meeting with Meloni saw him headed to the Prefettura di Milano, a Milan palace now used as a municipal building. According to AP, their face-to-face lasted about an hour and was followed by a closed-door lunch.


https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/ ... r-36688400