Italy’s foreign minister defends ICE attendance at Winter Olympics after outrage: ‘It’s not like the SS are coming’
Italy’s foreign minister has launched an extraordinary defence of his government’s decision to allow ICE agents into the country for the Winter Olympics, saying: “It’s not like the SS are coming”.
Foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Tuesday that the agents attending the Games would not be “those that are on the street in Minneapolis”, as the US reels from the fatal shooting of two people by ICE in the city this month.
Thousands of Italians have signed petitions to demand that ICE be barred from entry since it was first reported that they would be travelling with the US delegation. On Tuesday, ICE confirmed it would send a branch with the diplomatic security service to protect top officials.
“I have been harder than anyone else in Italy on [the ICE] raids,” said Mr Taijani, addressing the backlash. “But it’s not like the SS are coming.”
“The problem isn’t that those with machine guns and their faces covered are coming. They’re officials from a specific unit. They’re coming because it’s the unit responsible for counter-terrorism,” he told L’Espresso.
The Schutzstaffel (SS) was a paramilitary organisation in Nazi Germany that was used as an instrument of terror. They carried out the Holocaust and also played a role in security and intelligence collection.
ICE said that its Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) branch would be present “to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations”.
Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant homeland security secretary, insisted that “obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries”.
But Italian officials have raised concerns over the potential safety risk of ICE agents being used after the death of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot in Minneapolis on 24 January. It came just weeks after ICE agents shot and killed writer Renee Good.
In both incidents, officials claimed agents were acting in self-defence. Those accounts have been disputed and the deaths have caused public outcry.
Angelo Bonelli, a spokesperson for the Greens and Left Alliance, said: “The Gestapo conducted raids with their faces uncovered, while ICE conducts them with their faces covered. Unfortunately, this is the only real difference.”
Giuseppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, which is hosting several events, said that ICE agents are “not welcome” at the Games, which will run from 6 February until 15 March.
“This is a militia that kills,” he told Italian radio station RTL 102.5. “It is clear that they are not welcome in Milan. There’s no doubt about it. Can’t we just say no to Trump for once?”
Giuseppe Conte, president of the populist Five Star Movement, said: “After street violence and killings in the USA, we now learn from their spokesperson that ICE agents will come to Italy … We cannot allow this.”
