ICE not part of Team USA delegation at Winter Olympics, insists security chief

Protests were staged in Milan last weekend following reports that ICE agents were being sent to Italy for the Winter Olympics

ICE’s role at the Winter Olympics has been clarified by a US security chief (AFP/Getty)

No agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are providing security for the Team USA delegation at the Winter Olympics, a top security official for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) told reporters on Thursday.

"I can tell you unequivocally that there are no ICE agents that are part of the Team USA delegation on the ground here in Milan," Nicole Deal, Chief of Security and Athlete Services for USOPC, insisted a little over 24 hours before the opening ceremony.

Backlash to reports that ICE agents were being sent to Italy led to protests in Milan last weekend. Those concerns were dismissed as baseless by Italy's interior minister on Tuesday.

ICE and Border Patrol agents have come under heavy criticism in the United States over their enforcement of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, which resulted in the fatal shootings of two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, last month in Minneapolis.

Nicole Deal (pictured) has insisted ICE agents are not part of the Team USA delegation (Getty Images)

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a federal law enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and under ICE, will have a small presence at the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) joint operations center in Milan focused on information sharing.

DSS will provide protection for U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Secret Service will protect Vice President JD Vance, both of whom arrived in Milan on Thursday.

Another "ICE OUT" protest was planned for Friday in Milan. Deal blamed the backlash on "misinformation and assumptions."

"I think when it comes to securing major events, a lot of people don't know what the capacities and capabilities and resource that are needed, so there's a lot of misinformation and assumptions that are made," she said.

"I think this inaccuracy that ICE is here on the ground securing the Games was one of those. So I'm glad we were able to set the record straight and provide on the ground truth that ICE is not part of the Team USA delegation."