Foreign Consulate In Minneapolis Shielded Illegal Immigrant Criminal From Arrest, ICE Says

ICE has accused the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis of shielding an illegal immigrant criminal from arrest on Tuesday.

Jorge Miguel Bravo Uriles, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador whose rap sheet includes a DUI conviction from 2022, a sexual assault arrest, and two separate assaults, ran into the consulate as federal agents were attempting to nab him, an ICE spokesperson told Fox News Digital. Bravo Uriles remains on the run.

“When ICE officers approached Bravo Urgiles and identified themselves as law enforcement, the criminal illegal alien fled into a nearby building. 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 ICE spokesperson said.

“The ICE officers were focused on arresting the criminal illegal alien, their own safety, and the safety of the public. 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,” they continued.

A staffer at the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis, Minnesota prevented an ICE agent from entering the building on Tuesday telling him, “you cannot enter here, this is a consulate.”

The ICE agent then threatened the worker who blocked the entrance with his body, saying “if you… pic.twitter.com/VHBWmUyaml

— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 28, 2026

A video of the incident appears to show a man inside the consulate approaching the agents, who were standing outside a door to the building.

“This is the consulate of Ecuador, you are not allowed to enter,” the man could be heard saying.

“I did not enter. Relax … If you touch me, I will grab you,” another voice could be heard saying.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the incident an “attempted incursion.”

“Immediately, consular officials prevented the ICE officer from entering the consular headquarters, thereby guaranteeing the protection of the Ecuadorians who were at the consular headquarters at that time and activating the emergency protocols issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility,” the ministry said.

“In light of the above, the Chancellor of the Republic immediately presented a note of protest to the United States Embassy in Ecuador to ensure that acts of this nature are not repeated in any of the consular offices of Ecuador in the United States,” they added.

One witness said she “saw the officers going after two people in the street, and then those people went into the consulate and the officers tried to go in after them,” adding that the agents “weren’t able to enter the consulate, from what I could see,” according to Reuters.

The incident comes as President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, takes over the immigration arrest agenda in Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents.

Homan spoke to the press Thursday morning, saying that federal authorities are focusing their efforts on arresting the worst criminals first.

“All operations will be targeted, but the prioritization [is] going to be criminal aliens, public safety threats, and national security threats… we’ve got a lot of them to keep us busy… if you’re in the country illegally, you’re never off the table,” Homan said.