Ecuador lodges protest after ICE agent tries to enter Minneapolis consulate

QUITO — Ecuador said it lodged a formal diplomatic protest after a US federal agent attempted to enter the country’s consulate in Minneapolis without permission Tuesday morning.Employees of the consulate stopped the agent from entering, the Ecuadorean foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday night. Under the Vienna Conventions, to which the United States is a party, foreign consular buildings are off-limits to law enforcement from the host country without authorization from consular officials.The attempted entry prompted the foreign ministry to send a “note of protest” to the US Embassy in Quito, demanding such incidents “not be repeated,” the ministry said in a statement.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”, the statement said.Ecuador, whose president is an ally of Trump, has filed an official complaint.The incident comes at a time of high tension in the US city, just days after intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was shot dead by border agents during protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.In a video shared by Ecuadorean media, a consular official can be seen rushing to the entrance door and telling an ICE agent “this is the consulate, you’re not allowed in here”.The agent tells the official that “if you touch me, I will grab you”.The consular official then states again that “you can not enter here, this is a consulate, this is a foreign government’s office”, before closing the door.In its statement, Ecuador’s foreign ministry said that it had “immediately” handed an official letter of protest to the US embassy in Quito.The protest letter constitutes a rare note of discord between Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa and the Trump administration.Just over two months ago, the presidents agreed to strengthen their countries’ commercial and economic relationship and Noboa has in the past thanked Trump for designating two Ecuadorean criminal gangs as Foreign Terrorist Organisations. — Agencies