by InTrieste
Footage showing two Italian journalists being confronted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis has sparked political debate in Italy, with opposition leaders calling on the government to protest the incident.
The journalists, Laura Cappon and Daniele Babbo, correspondents for Italy’s state broadcaster RAI, were reporting for the television program In Mezz’Ora when their car was surrounded by ICE agents. Video broadcast on Sunday shows the agents attempting to stop the vehicle while the driver, who identified herself as part of the Italian press, refused to comply with their demands to roll down the window.
“I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m just driving around my community,” the driver said, before an ICE agent warned, “We are going to break out your window and extract you from the vehicle.” Another agent added, “This is the only warning. If you keep following us…we will break your window and we will pull you out of the vehicle.”
The incident occurred shortly after a protester, Alex Pretti, was fatally shot by ICE agents, adding to tensions in Minneapolis.
In Italy, the footage prompted immediate criticism from opposition leaders, who called on the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to respond.
“After the violence and street killings of these past few days, now ICE agents in the United States have also threatened Italian public service journalists who were simply doing their jobs,” wrote Giuseppe Conte, former premier and leader of the Movimento 5 Stelle, on X. He added, “We express our full solidarity with them. We cannot accept this. Prime Minister Meloni and the entire government must take a stand and make the voice of our country heard.”
Matteo Renzi, former premier and leader of Italia Viva, echoed the call, describing the threats as “unacceptable” and urging “an immediate stance” from Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
Peppe Provenzano, foreign affairs spokesperson for the Partito Democratico, said the government should “formally protest and distance itself once and for all” while clarifying “how it intends to protect our fellow citizens who live and work in the places where ICE is operating from this climate of intimidation and violence.”
Green Party leader Angelo Bonelli also criticized the U.S. agents’ conduct, describing it as “mafia-like intimidation of the press in the heart of the United States,” and called on Meloni to condemn the episode, arguing that “freedom of the press and the dignity of Italy come before any ideological alliance.”
The controversy comes amid wider debate in Italy over the presence of ICE agents at the upcoming Milan-Cortina Olympics, which Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi has dismissed.
