Staff at Ecuador‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from entering the country’s consulate in Minneapolis on Tuesday.
The attempted entry prompted Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry to send a “note of protest” to the U.S. Embassy in Quito, the Ecuadorean capital, demanding such incidents “not be repeated,” the ministry said in a statement.
The statement referred to the incident as an “attempted incursion into the Ecuadorian Consulate in Minneapolis by ICE agents,” Reuters reported, and said staff members took action to protect Ecuadorian nationals who were inside the building.
The incident happened at about 11 a.m., the statement added.
Alleged footage of the interaction shows a staff member rushing to the door and confronting masked agents, telling them, “This is the Consulate of Ecuador. You are not allowed in here.”
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In the video, the ICE agent says to the employee, “If you touch me, I will grab you.” The employee responds, “You cannot enter here. This is a consulate. This is a foreign government property.”
The video shows the ICE agent leaving shortly thereafter.
Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry provided few details, but eyewitnesses working in stores near the consulate told Reuters they saw the immigration agents try to enter the building.
“I saw the officers going after two people in the street, and then those people went into the consulate and the officers tried to go in after them,” said one woman, who asked not to be named, citing a fear of retribution by the federal government.
The agents “weren’t able to enter the consulate, from what I could see.”
The incident occurred during the Trump administration’s mass immigration crackdown in Minnesota, and happened the same day border control commander Greg Bovino was removed from his post in Minneapolis and replaced by U.S. President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan.
Bovino’s removal came days after the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti and weeks after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, both by ICE agents, which have led to an escalation in anti-ICE protests throughout the state.
The former commander claimed that the 37-year-old Pretti, who police say was unarmed when he was shot at close range, was attempting to “massacre” law enforcement.
Bovino has led numerous immigration crackdowns in major U.S. cities that have prompted mass demonstrations, including in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., and Minneapolis.
Under an international treaty, a country’s embassies, consular offices and other diplomatic compounds are regarded as sovereign territory of that nation, protected under diplomatic immunity from unauthorized entry by agents of other governments.
— With files from Reuters
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