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Federal immigration officers nearly triggered an international incident this week after trying to enter the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis without permission, what the country’s foreign ministry called an “attempted intrusion” that sparked a formal complaint to U.S. authorities.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement claims that officers were tracking down an Ecuadorian immigrant who ran into the building, which an agency spokesperson claims was “not clearly marked” as the consulate.

Two large seals reading “Consulate de Ecuador” are posted on the brick building, including one directly above the door that officers tried to walk through, according to widely shared footage of the incident.

Another sign to the left of the front door includes the Ecuadorian flag and the words “Republica del Ecuador.”

ICE is now accusing the consulate of shielding a “public safety threat illegal alien” who is still “at large.”

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ICE claims officers inadvertently tried to enter the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis, which they agency says was ‘not clearly marked’ despite large seals on the outside of the building (AP)

In footage of Tuesday’s incident, a consulate employee is seen rushing to the door as masked immigration officers try to open it. “If you touch me, I will grab you,” an officer can be heard saying.

“You cannot enter here,” the employee replies. “This is a consulate. This is a foreign government property.”

In a statement, Ecuador’s foreign ministry said consulate staff “prevented the entry of the ICE officer to the consular headquarters, thus ensuring the protection of the Ecuadorians who were in that moment at the consular headquarters.” Staff also implemented “emergency protocols,” it noted.

Ecuador issued a formal complaint to the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador “so that acts of this nature do not be repeated in any of the consular offices of Ecuador in the United States,” according to the statement.

Under the Vienna Conventions, a country’s embassies and other diplomatic offices are considered sovereign territory of that nation and protected under diplomatic immunity that prohibits the host nation’s officers from unauthorized entry. The United States is a party to the international treaties.

The State Department referred The Independent’s request for comment to Homeland Security, which shared ICE’s statement.

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Protesters in Quito demonstrated against the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda outside Ecuador’s foreign ministry after ICE officers nearly triggered an international incident (AP)

Officers were performing a “targeted enforcement operation” to arrest Jorge Miguel Bravo Uriles, who was accused of driving while intoxicated in 2022 with previous arrests on allegations of sexual assault, according to the agency.

He then “fled into a nearby building,” a spokesperson told The Independent.

“Unknown to the ICE officers at the time, the building housed the Consulate of Ecuador, however, the building was not clearly marked as the Ecuadorian Consulate,” the spokesperson said.

“The ICE officers were focused on arresting the criminal illegal alien, their own safety, and the safety of the public,” the statement added. “At no time did the ICE officers enter the Consulate. The Consulate employees protected this public safety threat illegal alien. He is still at large.”

The incident follows weeks of growing tensions and violence from immigration officers patrolling Minneapolis, where roughly 3,000 masked and heavily armed agents have been deployed by Donald Trump’s administration to support his efforts to arrest and deport tens of thousands of people. The city is reeling in the wake of the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, two U.S. citizens and demonstrators who were shot and killed by immigration officers this month.

Several high-profile immigration arrests have also targeted Ecuadorian nationals, including five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who was arrested in the driveway of their home in suburban Minneapolis last week. An image of the pre-schooler standing in his frozen driveway wearing a Spider-Man backpack and blue, woolly hat during father’s arrest has fueled further outrage.

Liam, who is detained with his father at an ICE detention center in Texas, is now sick, sleeping a lot and asking for his mother, according to his family and members of Congress who visited him January 28.

A federal judge temporarily blocked their immediate removal from the country after the boy’s father sued the Trump administration over his arrest and detention.

The arrest of another Ecuadorian man, identified in court filings as Juan T.R., also triggered the wrath of Minnesota’s chief federal judge, who threatened to hold ICE’s acting director Todd Lyons in contempt after repeated “violations” of court orders.