An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent attempted to enter Ecuador’s consulate in Minneapolis, but was turned back by an employee, prompting an official complaint to the US embassy in Quito, the country’s foreign ministry said.
The Tuesday incident came as ICE and other federal agencies continue their aggressive campaign of arresting people in Minnesota’s largest city suspected of being in the United States illegally, despite outrage over the deaths of two US citizens in the operation dubbed “Metro Surge”.
“This morning, the Ecuadorian consul in Minneapolis reported that, at around 11.00am, an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attempted to enter the Consulate premises,” Ecuador’s foreign ministry said in a statement posted on Tuesday evening.
“Consulate officials immediately prevented the ICE officer from entering the consular headquarters, thus ensuring the protection of the Ecuadorians who were at the consular headquarters at that time,” the statement continued.
In response, Ecuador’s foreign minister “immediately submitted a note of protest to the US Embassy in Ecuador so that acts of this nature would not be repeated at any of Ecuador’s consular offices in the United States”.
Video of the incident verified by Reuters showed an employee at the consulate telling the agent: “This is the consulate of Ecuador, you are not allowed to enter.”
“Relax, relax, I didn’t enter,” the agent replies, before telling the staffer: “If you touch me, I will grab you.” The agent leaves shortly after.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, and the state department did not respond to a request for comment.
Greg Meeks, the top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee, blasted the incident as “another outrageous and unacceptable disregard for the rule of law” by the Trump administration, as well as a breach of diplomatic protocols.
“Diplomatic facilities are protected for a reason. Any effort by US law enforcement officials to enter another country’s diplomatic facility without permission is not only unlawful, it risks setting a profoundly dangerous precedent that could put American diplomats, servicemembers and their families abroad at risk,” Meeks said.
He called the attempted intrusion a sign “that ICE is completely out of control, operating without rules, restraint, or accountability”.
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