Ecuador’s minister of foreign affairs has filed a protest with the U.S. Embassy after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tried to enter the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis without permission Tuesday.

A video of the attempt on social media shows a consulate staffer running to the door to turn the ICE agents away, telling them, “This is the Ecuadorian consulate. You’re not allowed to enter.”

One ICE officer can be heard responding by threatening to “grab” the staffer if he touched the agent before agreeing to leave.

International law generally prohibits law enforcement authorities from entering foreign consulates or embassies without permission, though sometimes permission may be assumed granted for life-threatening emergencies, like fires.

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[–] 133 points 9 months ago (6 children)

So DHS really didn’t teach the new hires anything useful. Got it.

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  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    That's where you're wrong. They taught them a lot of useful things (for them). They just didn't teach them what's legal or not. In fact, they explicitly taught them to do many illegal things.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    I said useful. How is doing illegal things useful?

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    Useful for them.

    Do you think thievery isn't useful to the thief? Usually the phrase "legality is not morality" is required, but I guess this time it's "legality is not utility." It being legal has no bearing on it being useful or not.

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  • [–] 99 points 9 months ago

    He saw a building full of unfettered brown people and got a fascist boner. Thought he'd get a whole bus full of potential bonuses and they had the gall to stop him! He'll yell at a weaker white person tonight to feel better.

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  • [–] 58 points 9 months ago

    The State Department, Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    Of course they didn't.

    Motherfuckers.

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  • [–] 53 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Jesus it's a matter of time until ICE abducts some ambassador isn't it

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  • [–] 32 points 9 months ago

    Before they claim to have smelled smoke and valiantly battled the fire with a hail of bullets.

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  • [–] 58 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Please, please let them try to assault a Latin American embassy only to be met with a hail of (accurate) gunfire. ICE thinks they have qualified immunity? They would find out real quick what absolute immunity looks like.

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  • [–] 52 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    One ICE officer can be heard responding by threatening to “grab” the staffer

    JFC - didn't these goons ever watch Lethal Weapon 2? Consulate staff would literally have diplomatic immunity - AND a diplomatic visa. They're not immigrants, they're diplomats.

    Ecuador should send their military into the US embassy in Quito and see how it goes for everyone involved and watch how quickly the whining and importance of international law comes back.

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago

    Two things would happen.

    1. They'd justify the ICE goon's behavior by claiming the embassy was enabling terrorism or drug trafficking.

    2. They would pitch a huge fit, take some sort of extreme action, and claim they're in the right because US diplomats are good guys.

    They don't care about rules, ethics, or even having a consistent system of values. They only care about punishing people, power, and getting what they want when they want it. If they pull back at all, it's only because they fear their support (and with it their immunity from consequences) is slipping. They're just bullies and cowards.

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  • [–] 22 points 9 months ago

    Video posted here:
    https://lemmy.world/post/42277358

    It looks like someone with a backpack was trying to get away from them in the very first second of the video.

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  • [–] 44 points 9 months ago (6 children)

    The US is heading out of the door of the civilised world.

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  • [–] 33 points 9 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Last year? Not, like, constantly prior to that?

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Obviously it's a sliding scale but, IMO, up until the second Bush Jr presidency, it seemed the USA had some excuse to do their atrocities one could use to look the other way.

    Things continue to decline faster and faster but now, with the second election of the Felon Pedophile, the USA showed the world they are completely lost: morally, ethically, politically, etc

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)

    From native genocide and chattel slavery to imperialist massacres, Vietnam, and the Middle East, it kinda feels like there were just a few good moments tucked into a pretty rough history.

    For me, the current, open, cascade failure just highlights how thin the veneer over hundreds of years of atrocities has been.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    absolutely and keep in mind that it would be different for people on different generations... I only read about the realities of Vietnam decades later as an adult so it came to bear in my opinion MUCH MUCH later than it should have

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago

    Until they get universal healthcare they haven’t ever been part of the civilized world as far as I’m concerned. It doesn’t even have to be that good, it just has to be not completely absent(the ACA does not do enough to redeem the rest).

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago
    [–] 2 points 9 months ago