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”.