Ecuador has denounced what it has described as an attempted incursion by a US immigration agent into its consulate in Minneapolis, amid heightened tensions over immigration enforcement in the city.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry said the government of President Daniel Noboa has sent a letter of protest to the US embassy in Quito over the incident.
According to the ministry, an agent from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attempted to enter the consulate but was prevented from doing so by staff in order to protect Ecuadorian nationals who were inside the diplomatic mission.
Images circulating on social media appear to show a man with his face concealed trying to enter the building, while an official warns him that he is not authorised to do so.
Minneapolis, in the US state of Minnesota, has become a focal point of nationwide tensions over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The unrest has followed the fatal shooting of two Americans by immigration agents this month, including one man who was killed on Saturday as he lay pinned to the ground by masked officers.
Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry has demanded that "acts of this nature not be repeated in any of Ecuador’s consular offices in the United States."
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said he would "de-escalate a little bit" following the two fatal shootings.
The Minneapolis protests have also been fuelled by images that went viral last week, showing a frightened five-year-old Ecuadorian boy being escorted by an immigration agent holding him by his Spiderman backpack.
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Source: TRT