Photo Courtesy of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, PDM 1.0, via Flickr.
Ecuadorian officials condemn the incident in Minneapolis while scholars warn of diplomatic risks. Immigrants describe growing fear around consular access.
Quotes from Jorge Poveda and Camila Bravo were originally given in Spanish and translated into English.
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By Genesis Aviles
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Federal immigration agents attempted to enter the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis on Jan. 27. Ecuadorian officials say this incident violated diplomatic norms and has raised concerns among legal experts and immigrant community members.
According to reporting by The Guardian and CNN en Español, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived at the consulate while searching for an Ecuadorian national. Consulate staff denied the agents entry, citing diplomatic protections afforded to consular facilities. The agents did not enter the building and later left. No arrests were made.
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attempt, stating that consulates are inviolable under international law and that foreign law enforcement officials may not enter without explicit authorization. According to CNN en Español, Gabriela Sommerfeld, the Ecuadorian Foreign Affairs Minister, said the government formally communicated its objection to U.S. authorities.
According to a statement cited by The Guardian, ICE said its agents were conducting a lawful operation and denied forcing entry. They said officers are instructed to respect diplomatic facilities and that the encounter concluded without escalation.
Legal scholars note that such incidents are rare and potentially serious.
“The idea of diplomatic immunity has long been a custom,” said Dr. Kevin Fridy, chair of the political science department at the University of Tampa. “I am not a lawyer, and I’m sure there is nuance I am glossing over, but generally speaking, it’s the idea that diplomats and embassies are not subject to the domestic laws of the country in which they reside.”
Fridy added that recent changes within ICE could be a factor in this event. “The number of ICE agents has more than doubled in a year, and there is reporting that training has been dramatically reduced to accommodate the massive influx. It might be an isolated incident or the result of poor training.”
He expresses concerns about whether incidents like this continue to happen and the broader international consequences. “Agreements like the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations rely on reciprocity for enforcement. If the U.S. begins to routinely violate or threaten to violate the convention, one would expect other countries to do the same to our diplomatic staff and compounds.”
For members of the Ecuadorian immigrant community, the incident carried emotional weight beyond diplomatic protocol.
Jorge Poveda, an Ecuadorian citizen and alumnus of Lynn University in Florida, said he felt angry. “It wasn’t just another news story; I felt it was a violation of a space I consider sacred. The consulate is, literally, the only piece of ‘homeland soil’ we have abroad.”
Poveda said the incident has altered the way he views government institutions. “My trust in the authorities has transformed into constant vigilance. I feel that the institutions that should protect us are more interested in persecution than in upholding the rule of law.”
Camila Bravo, another Ecuadorian citizen living in the U.S., said the episode worsened fears that immigration enforcement could extend into other protected spaces. “My ‘sense of security’ has been diminishing day by day. If we can’t trust those who are supposed to provide us with security, who can we trust?”
Both Poveda and Bravo emphasized the importance of consulates as points of access for essential services, including documentation and birth registration. Bravo claims to know individuals who have avoided registering their children out of fear of deportation. She explained that, without consular documentation, immigrants can become “legally invisible.”
Neither ICE nor the U.S. State Department has taken any disciplinary action or made policy changes related to the Ecuadorian Consulate incident. Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry announced it handed an official letter of protest to the U.S. embassy in Quito on Jan. 27.