Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis says ICE agents tried to enter and were turned away
The Consulate of Ecuador in Minneapolis says a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent attempted to enter its premises late Tuesday morning.
Officials prevented the officer's entry and activated emergency protocols issued by the Ministry of Foreign Relations and Human Mobility, according to the consulate.
The consulate says the Foreign Minister of the Republic "immediately presented a note of protest to the United States Embassy in Ecuador so that acts of this nature are not repeated in any of the consular offices of Ecuador in the United States."
University of St. Thomas law professor Rachel Moran says the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a United Nations treaty signed in 1963, prohibits U.S. authorities from entering a consulate without the permission of its head, except in circumstances of disaster.
"One of the more obvious points and understood points of that convention is that the foreign consulate is its own territory and it can dictate who's allowed to enter and who's not," Moran said.
A video of the exchange shows a consular employee telling the agents they are not allowed to enter. The agent is heard warning the employee, "If you touch me I will grab you."
The employee stayed and guarded the door, protecting the people inside.
"This is the Foreign Council of Ecuador, you cannot enter," the employee says in the video.
The interaction lasted less than 30 seconds. Brianna Quito captured it all on her phone.
"Shocked, scared. I didn't know what to do. I don't know if I should run, too," Quito said. "Three ladies came inside running, one lady was holding a baby and they came running inside saying, 'ICE, ICE,' and then the guys that were waiting also in line with me, they went running into a room."
Despite being a citizen, Quito says she now carries her passport with her at all times.
"I don't know to not leave home, try to stay inside because ICE, yeah, ICE is everywhere," Quito said.
The consulate is located on Central Avenue in northeast Minneapolis, blocks from where ICE recently took two Ecuadorian men. A woman named Jenny, who identified the men as her husband and cousin, said she pleaded with the agents to deport her and her young daughter, too.
It's unclear why the agents did not take Jenny, who said she and the man are all undocumented, or her daughter.
"I was asking them to deport me because I don't want to be left alone with my daughter," Jenny said. "I don't have a job, only my husband does, and now I don't know what we're going to do."
WCCO has reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for comment.
