Ecuador Responds After ICE Agent Tries to Enter Its Consulate
ICE may have provoked an international incident by attempting to enter the Ecuadorian Consulate in Minneapolis Tuesday.
At about 11 a.m., diplomatic staff had to block an ICE agent from entering the building, which is off limits to law enforcement without prior authorization from Ecuador under the Vienna Convention. Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry lodged a formal diplomatic complaint with the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador over the attempted entry “so that acts of this nature don’t happen again.”
In a video of the incident, consulate staff can be seen rushing to the building’s entrance after the agent opens the door. The staff informed him, “This is the Ecuadorean Consulate, you’re not allowed to enter.” In response, the ICE agent replied, “If you touch me, I’ll grab you.”
???????????????? ICE AGENTS TRIED TO ENTER ECUADORIAN CONSULATE, GOT TURNED AWAY AT THE DOOR
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 28, 2026
Staffer ran to block them: "This is the Ecuadorian consulate.
You're not allowed to enter."
One agent threatened to "grab" him before backing off.
Ecuador filed a formal protest.… https://t.co/VGB2Ixk4rz pic.twitter.com/kOv7RvuDOj
According to The New York Times, the Consulate building is clearly labeled with Ecuador’s national seal. In a statement, Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “Consulate staff immediately prevented the ICE official from entering the consular building, thereby guaranteeing the protection of the Ecuadorians who found themselves in the consular building in that moment, and activating emergency protocols issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Movement.”
Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, detained by ICE agents last week along with his father, was a native of Ecuador along with his father, and the pair were pursuing asylum claims in the U.S. ICE agents allegedly used the child as bait to detain his family members.
The Vienna Convention clearly states that a country’s embassies and consulates are considered sovereign territory of that country, and protected by diplomatic immunity from unauthorized entry from the host nation. Tuesday’s incident is just more proof that ICE agents have no regard for the law, and see no checks on their power and authority.