(Adnkronos) – Italy’s interior minister Matteo Piantedosi will testify on Wednesday to the lower house of parliament on the deployment of federal agents from the controversial US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the upcoming Milan-Cortina Olympics, the parliament said in a statement.
Piantedosi’s testimony to MPs is slated for 11 am and will be broadcast live on the parliament’s website and its satellite TV channel, said the statement.
News of the deployment of ICE agents has provoked a backlash in Italy, with demonstrations in Milan at the weekend and a declaration by the city’s mayor, Beppe Sala that the agents are not welcome.
The ICE agents being deployed to Milan are not from the same unit as the immigration agents cracking down in Minnesota and other US cities and will be stationed in a control room and not operating on the streets.
Homeland Security Investigations, a ICE unit that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events like the Olympics to assist with security.
The Olympics begin on Friday with an opening ceremony that will be attended by US vice-president J.D. Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio.
