As the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics opened amid heightened scrutiny and political debate, a provocative new piece of street art has emerged in Rome. Artist Laika captures the wider controversy surrounding the presence of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel at the Games.
The work, titled “ICE out!”, appeared this week outside the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) headquarters on Viale Tiziano in Rome. It depicts a militarised ICE agent firing on a ski jumper against an inverted mountain bearing the Olympic symbol, its red circle transformed into a rifle’s crosshair. The striking imagery is a public protest by prominent street artist Laika against what she views as an unacceptable intrusion of anti-immigration forces into an event meant to embody international cooperation and peace.
Laika’s intervention joins growing public and political opposition in Italy to the reported involvement of ICE amid the Winter Games. Although Italian officials have stressed that the U.S. agents will have no operational policing powers and will instead work in an intelligence and advisory capacity, critics argue their very presence is incompatible with Olympic values.
Italy’s Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, told parliament that the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit of ICE will operate only within diplomatic channels and not perform police activities on Italian soil. He described concerns as unfounded and affirmed that national security responsibilities remain fully with Italian authorities.
Condemning agency’s tactics in the US
Laika’s artwork does more than question the practical role of ICE agents at the Games; it frames the issue in moral and symbolic terms. In statements accompanying her mural, the artist condemned the agency’s tactics in the United States, including controversial immigration enforcement raids she characterised as “racist and violent” and likened to “Gestapo-style” operations. She specifically invoked the fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, and highlighted the arrest of a young child, Liam Conejos Ramos, in the U.S. as part of her critique. Against this backdrop, Laika argued that ICE’s presence at an event claiming to celebrate international unity undermines core principles of the Olympic Charter, including solidarity and opposition to discrimination.
Laika appealed to supporters to join a planned demonstration, “Let’s Mobilize the City – ICE Out”, scheduled for Friday, 6 February, in Milan.
