Cable News Clips

HSI officers are separate from the ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration crackdowns currently being undertaken in U.S. cities — known as Enforcement and Removal Operations — and there is no indication ERO officers are being sent to Italy.

"Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,″ the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Tuesday.

"At the Olympics, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations is supporting the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations. All security operations remain under Italian authority."

ICE has been present at major sports events in both the U.S. and abroad in the past, including at previous Olympic Games, as part of international partnerships related to human trafficking and drug trafficking, Jason Houser, who served as ICE chief of staff under former U.S. president Joe Biden, said in an interview with Reuters.

Italy's Interior Ministry says that the HSI investigators will be stationed at a control room in the U.S. Consulate in Milan, working in a support role with other U.S. law enforcement agencies.

Agents from HSI are commonly stationed in embassies around the world to facilitate their investigations and build relations with local law enforcement in those countries. They conduct investigations into anything that has a cross-border element to it, from human smuggling to fentanyl trafficking to smuggling of cultural artifacts.

Italy has issued an update regarding its security plans for the 2026 Winter Olympics, emphasizing that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will have no role "on the ground."

Italy's Interior Ministry said in a statement that ICE's investigative body—and "not the operational arm of the agency"—would work only within U.S. diplomatic offices, such as the U.S. Consulate in Milan.

"All security operations on Italian territory remain, as always, under the exclusive responsibility and direction of the Italian authorities," the ministry said.

Agents who are part of the investigative arm of ICE, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), are present in over 50 countries and have been in Italy for a number of years