Featured Image Credit: Getty Images
Topics: Ecuador, FIFA World Cup, United States
Jack Kenmare
A nation that will be involved in the 2026 World Cup has sent a "note of protest" to the United States Embassy following an incident involving a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
Since the Trump administration sent ICE agents to Minneapolis in what was described by acting director Todd Lyons as the agency's "largest immigration operation ever", there have been 3,000 arrests and two fatal shootings.
This week, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested in a phone call with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz that he is open to reducing the number of federal immigration agents in the city.
However, disruption continues to hit headlines, with an incident involving ICE agents at the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis being one of the latest situations to spark widespread outrage.
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On Tuesday, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent made an attempt to get into Ecuador's consulate in Minneapolis but was prevented from entering the premises by consulate staff.
Footage of the incident has emerged showing a consulate official blocking an Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) agents from accessing the building.
"Eh, eh, eh, eh, this is a consulate! You are not allowed in here!" the consulate official can be heard saying, as multiple agents gathered on the street outside.
An ICE agent can also be heard shouting: "Get back! Get back! If you touch me I will grab you!".
Officials blocked the officers’ entry and activated emergency protocols, which 'guaranteed the protection of the Ecuadorian citizens who were present at the consulate at that time', according to Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry.
The attempts to enter the building prompted the Foreign Ministry to send a "note of protest" to the U.S. Embassy in Quito, according to The Washington Post.
A statement says the ministry “immediately submitted a note of protest to the United States Embassy in Ecuador to ensure that acts of this nature are not repeated at any of Ecuador’s consular offices in the United States".