The government of Ecuador has condemned what it described as an attempt by a US federal immigration agent to enter the Ecuadorean consulate in Minneapolis. The agent was prevented from gaining access by consular officials, who acted 'to guarantee the protection of the Ecuadoreans who were inside the consulate at the time', a statement by Ecuador's foreign ministry said.
Ecuador, whose president is an ally of Trump, has filed an official complaint. The incident occurs amid ongoing tensions in the city, following the fatal shooting of a nurse during protests against the Trump administration's immigration policies.
In its statement, Ecuador's foreign ministry reported that an agent of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) had attempted to enter the premises of the consulate at 11:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Tuesday. Under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, consular premises are considered 'inviolable'. Ecuador stated that its officials had not consented to ICE entering the consulate.
A video shared by Ecuadorean media depicts a consular official denying the agent entry while asserting that it is a foreign government's office, leading to a tense confrontation.
In response, Ecuador has officially protested to the U.S. embassy in Quito, highlighting a rare moment of discord between President Daniel Noboa and the Trump administration. Noboa had previously expressed gratitude towards Trump for designating Ecuadorean criminal gangs as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and for pursuing closer economic ties between the two countries.
