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 an announcement.
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 motion to guard Ecuadorian nationals who were contained in the constructing.
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, “That is the Consulate of Ecuador. You are usually not allowed in here.”
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Within the video, the ICE agent says to the worker, “In case you touch me, I’ll grab you.” The worker responds, “You can’t enter here. This can be a consulate. This can be 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 attempt to enter the constructing.
“I saw the officers going after two people on the street, after which those people went into the consulate and the officers tried to go in after them,” said one woman, who asked to not be named, citing a fear of retribution by the federal government.
The agents “weren’t in a position to enter the consulate, from what I could see.”
The incident occurred throughout the Trump administration’s mass immigration crackdown in Minnesota, and happened the identical day border control commander Greg Bovino was faraway from his post in Minneapolis and replaced by U.S. President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan.
Bovino’s removal got here days after the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti and weeks after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, each by ICE agents, which have led to an escalation in anti-ICE protests throughout the state.
Jan. 21, 2026: Protesters and ICE agents collide in Minneapolis on Jan. 13, 2026, near where Renee Good was killed.
Elizabeth Flores/Minnesota Star Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire
The previous 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 quite a few immigration crackdowns in major U.S. cities which have prompted mass demonstrations, including in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., and Minneapolis.
Under a world treaty, a rustic’s embassies, consular offices and other diplomatic compounds are thought to be 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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