South Korea said it has concluded talks with U.S. authorities to secure the release of its citizens who were detained in a large immigration raid at a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, and that a chartered plane would be dispatched to bring the detainees home once U.S. administrative procedures are completed.
The South Korean presidential chief of staff, Kang Hoon-sik, said Seoul has been pressing Washington for the repatriation of nationals arrested in the enforcement operation and that authorities in both countries were working to improve visa rules to prevent similar incidents. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said the enforcement action detained 475 people, including more than 300 South Korean nationals, at a factory operated by LG Energy Solution and Hyundai that had been hailed as a major foreign investment in the state.
U.S. officials said the raids, which took place on a Friday, targeted people they said were illegally working in the United States. ICE released video footage that showed a group of Asian workers restrained in front of a building, some wearing yellow vests marked with names such as "Hyundai" and "LG CNS." "People on short-term or recreational visas are not authorized to work in the U.S.," ICE said, adding that the operation was necessary to protect American jobs. Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Steven Schrank said in a statement that the operation "sends a clear message that those who exploit the system and undermine our workforce will be held accountable."
President Donald Trump defended the raids, saying, "They were illegal aliens and ICE was just doing its job." The White House dismissed concerns that the enforcement action could deter foreign investment in the United States even as the administration has been courting large manufacturing investments from abroad while tightening visa allocations for foreign workers.
LG Energy Solution, which operates the Georgia plant in a joint venture with Hyundai, said many of the arrested workers were on business trips with a variety of visas or had entered under a visa waiver program. The company said 47 of its own employees and about 250 workers employed by contractors at the joint venture were detained and that the arrests have prompted it to suspend most business travel to the United States and direct employees on assignment in the U.S. to return home immediately.
The factory, a battery plant expected to employ about 1,200 people, has been promoted by Georgia officials as one of the state's largest economic development projects. The large number of detentions, and video of restrained workers, prompted alarm in Seoul, where South Korean media widely described the enforcement action as a shock and at least one major newspaper warned it could have a chilling effect on the activities of South Korean businesses in the United States.
Seoul has pledged tens of billions of dollars in U.S. manufacturing investment in recent years, in part to offset tariff pressures, and the timing of the raid while trade and investment talks were ongoing between the two countries heightened sensitivities in South Korea. Kang said Seoul would press both to prevent recurrence and to provide consular support; the detained workers are being held at an ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia.
U.S. and South Korean officials did not provide a public timetable for the repatriation flights beyond saying a charter would be arranged once required administrative steps were completed. South Korean officials said they will also seek changes to visa procedures to reduce the risk that short-term or business travelers can be exposed to enforcement actions they say may stem from differences in how travel and work authorizations are classified.