ROME: Agents from the divisive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will help support US security operations for the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/ski-body-blocks-russian-belarusian-athletes-from-2026-winter-olympics" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Winter Olympic</a> Games in Italy next month, a spokesperson told AFP. &quot;At the Olympics, ICE&#39;s Homeland Security Investigations is supporting the US Department of State&#39;s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations,&quot; the agency said in a statement. &quot;All security operations remain under Italian authority.&quot; It added: &quot;Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries.&quot; The potential presence of ICE agents at the February 6-22 Games has sparked huge debate in Italy, following the outcry over the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/second-death-in-minneapolis-crackdown-heaps-pressure-on-trump" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">deaths</a>&nbsp;of two civilians during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Italian authorities initially denied the presence of ICE and then sought to downplay any role, suggesting they would help only in security for the US delegation. US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are attending the opening ceremony in Milan on February 6. On Monday, the president of the northern Lombardy region, which is hosting some of the Olympic events, said their involvement would be limited to monitoring Vance and Rubio. &quot;It will be only in a defensive role, but I am convinced that nothing will happen,&quot; Attilio Fontana told reporters. However, his office then issued a statement saying he did not have any information on their presence, but was responding to a hypothetical question. Thousands of <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-ice-agent-shoots-venezuelan-man-amid-record-immigration-enforcement" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">ICE agents</a> have been deployed by President Donald Trump in various US cities to carry out a crackdown on illegal immigration. Their actions have prompted widespread protests, and the recent killings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, on the streets of Minneapolis sparked outrage.

Europe

ICE agents will support US security operations at Italy’s Winter Olympics, officials said, prompting controversy amid recent immigration crackdowns, protests and civilian deaths in the United States.

ICE agents to help with security at Winter Olympics

MINNEAPOLIS: The Trump administration faced intensifying pressure Sunday over its mass immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, after federal agents shot dead a second US citizen, and graphic cell phone footage again contradicted officials&#39; immediate description of the incident. Federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, early Saturday while scuffling with him on an icy roadway in the Midwestern city, less than three weeks after an immigration officer fired on Renee Good, also 37, killing her in her car. President Donald Trump&#39;s administration quickly claimed that Pretti had intended to harm the federal agents &mdash; as it did after Good&#39;s death &mdash; pointing to a pistol it said was discovered on him. However, video shared widely on social media and verified by US media showed Pretti never drawing a weapon, with agents firing around 10 shots at him seconds after he was sprayed in the face with chemical irritant and thrown to the ground. The video further inflamed ongoing protests in Minneapolis against the presence of federal agents, with around 1,000 people participating in a demonstration Sunday. After top officials described Pretti as an &quot;assassin&quot; who had assaulted the agents, Pretti&#39;s parents issued a statement Saturday condemning the administration&#39;s &quot;sickening lies&quot; about their son. Asked Sunday what she would say to Pretti&#39;s parents, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said: &quot;Just that I&#39;m grieved for them.&quot; &quot;I truly am. I can&#39;t even imagine losing a child,&quot; she told Fox News show &quot;The Sunday Briefing.&quot; She said more clarity would come as an investigation progresses. US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking to NBC&#39;s &quot;Meet the Press,&quot; also said an investigation was necessary to get a full understanding of the killing. Asked if agents had already removed the pistol from Pretti when they fired on him, Blanche said: &quot;I do not know. And nobody else knows, either. That&#39;s why we&#39;re doing an investigation.&quot; &#39;Joint&#39; probe Their comments came after multiple senators from Trump&#39;s Republican Party called for a thorough probe into the killing, and for cooperation with local authorities. &quot;There must be a full joint federal and state investigation,&quot; Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said. The Trump administration controversially excluded local investigators from a probe into Good&#39;s killing. Minnesota&#39;s Democratic Governor Tim Walz posed a question directly to the president during a press briefing Sunday, asking: &quot;What&#39;s the plan, Donald Trump?&quot; &quot;What do we need to do to get these federal agents out of our state?&quot; Thousands of federal immigration agents have been deployed to heavily Democratic Minneapolis for weeks, after conservative media reported on alleged fraud by Somali immigrants. Trump has repeatedly amplified the racially tinged accusations, including on Sunday when he posted on his Truth Social platform: &quot;Minnesota is a Criminal COVER UP of the massive Financial Fraud that has gone on!&quot; The city, known for its bitterly cold winters, has one of the country&#39;s highest concentrations of Somali immigrants. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison pushed back against Trump&#39;s claim, telling reporters &quot;it&#39;s not about fraud, because if he sent people who understand forensic accounting, we&#39;d be having a different conversation. But he&#39;s sending armed masked men.&quot; Court orderSince &quot;Operation Metro Surge&quot; began, many residents have carried whistles to notify others of the presence of immigration agents, while sometimes violent skirmishes have broken out between the officers and protesters. Local authorities have sued the federal government seeking a court order to suspend the operation, with a first hearing set for Monday. Recent polling has shown voters increasingly upset with Trump&#39;s domestic immigration operations, as videos of masked agents seizing people off sidewalks -- including children -- and dramatic stories of US citizens being detained proliferate. Barack and Michelle Obama on Sunday forcefully condemned Pretti&#39;s killing, saying in a statement it should be a &quot;wake-up call&quot; that core US values &quot;are increasingly under assault.&quot; The former president and first lady blasted Trump and his government as seeming &quot;eager to escalate the situation.&quot;

Americas

Pressure mounts on Trump after a second US citizen was killed during Minneapolis immigration raids, as video contradicts official accounts, sparking bipartisan calls for investigations, legal action, and criticism from local leaders

Articles tagged with "Alex Pretti"

ICE agents to help with security at Winter Olympics

Second death in Minneapolis crackdown heaps pressure on Trump