The Mayor of Milan has declared US immigration agents "not welcome" at next month's Winter Olympics, calling ICE "a militia that kills" in an extraordinary diplomatic confrontation that exposes European revulsion at American immigration enforcement tactics.
Giuseppe Sala, the center-left mayor hosting the February 6 Olympic opening ceremony, rejected Washington's plan to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as part of US security operations on European soil.
"They are not welcome in Milan," Sala told reporters, according to CBS News. He expressed concern ICE agents "don't align with democratic security methods," before acknowledging political reality: "Could we ever say no to Trump?"
Brussels decides more than you think - but on European sovereignty, Milan is trying to draw a line.
The US State Department insists the Diplomatic Security Service leads American security efforts, with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) - ICE's investigative arm - playing only a supportive role "vetting transnational criminal organizations." Washington claims this arrangement mirrors previous Olympic Games and that ICE has "no policing or security management duties," with Italian authorities exclusively directing operations.
That technical explanation fails to address European concerns. The controversy erupted after ICE agents in Minneapolis were filmed intimidating journalists and fatal shootings by federal agents intensified scrutiny of US immigration enforcement. Europeans watched American agents in tactical gear conducting raids that looked more paramilitary than law enforcement.
For Italy, the issue touches fundamental questions of sovereignty. No EU member state allows foreign law enforcement to operate on its territory without strict bilateral agreements and host nation control. The prospect of ICE agents - an agency with no jurisdiction in Europe - conducting any operations during the Olympics represents an extraterritorial reach that violates basic principles of international law.
The Italian national government has remained conspicuously silent. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who cultivates close ties with the Trump administration, faces a delicate balance between her right-wing base that admires Trump's immigration hardline and domestic opposition to American overreach.
Sala's public rejection forces the issue. As mayor, he controls municipal police and has formal authority over local security coordination. His statement that ICE agents are "not welcome" may carry limited legal weight, but it establishes political cover for the Italian government to quietly restrict American agents to ceremonial roles.
The episode illustrates a broader European anxiety about Trump's America: that Washington views alliances not as partnerships between equals, but as opportunities to project American power without regard for local sovereignty. ICE's domestic reputation - raids, family separations, lethal force - makes it particularly toxic on European soil where immigration enforcement operates under strict proportionality rules.
Brussels decides more than you think - and one of those decisions is that American federal agents don't get to operate as paramilitaries in European cities, Olympics or not. Whether the Italian government backs its mayor or buckles to Washington will signal how much sovereignty Europe is willing to surrender to maintain transatlantic relations.
The opening ceremony is February 6. ICE's invitation remains technically open. Sala has said his piece. Now we wait to see if Rome has the spine to match Milan's defiance.
