South Korea said Sunday it will bring home more than 300 of its nationals who were detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai manufacturing site in Georgia, after Seoul and Washington finalized negotiations on the workers’ release.
Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff to President Lee Jae Myung, said South Korea will send a charter plane to return the workers as soon as remaining administrative steps are completed. The Foreign Ministry said Seoul and U.S. authorities were discussing details to allow all detained workers to return on a voluntary basis, and that Foreign Minister Cho Hyun would travel to the United States on Monday for talks related to the releases.
U.S. immigration authorities said Friday that 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals, were detained when hundreds of federal agents raided the sprawling Hyundai site where the automaker and its partners are building electric-vehicle and battery facilities. Cho said more than 300 South Koreans were among those detained.
Video released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed a caravan of vehicles arriving at the site, federal agents directing workers to line up outside and some detainees frisked and shackled before being transported. Most of the people taken into custody were moved to an immigration detention center in Folkston, Georgia, near the Florida state line.
Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent of Homeland Security Investigations, told reporters that none of those detained had been charged and that the investigation remained ongoing. He said some detainees had entered the country unlawfully while others had overstayed visas or were on visa waivers that prohibited employment.
The operation targeted a Hyundai plant still under construction where the company has partnered with LG Energy Solution to produce batteries for electric vehicles. The site has been promoted as one of Georgia’s largest economic development projects and the raid drew sharp attention in Seoul, where officials expressed concern and regret.
The raid occurred amid heightened scrutiny of immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, which has conducted a series of workplace raids as part of a broader deportation agenda. The size and location of the Georgia operation — hitting a major investment project from a U.S. ally — underscored diplomatic sensitivities.
Seoul and Washington had recently moved to deepen economic ties. In July, South Korea agreed to purchase U.S. energy and to facilitate large-scale investment in the United States as part of arrangements that aimed to lower tariff barriers and expand industrial cooperation. President Lee and U.S. President Donald Trump met in Washington about two weeks ago. Trump said Sunday that a possible solution would be to allow skilled foreign workers to enter temporarily to train U.S. workers in industries such as battery and computer manufacturing.
Kang said Seoul would press for a review and improvement of visa systems for South Koreans traveling to the United States on business trips tied to investment projects. The Foreign Ministry dispatched diplomats to the site in Georgia and issued a statement expressing concern over the procedures used during the enforcement action.
U.S. and South Korean officials said discussions would continue to resolve the status of the detained workers. For now, authorities in both countries described the returns as voluntary and subject to administrative steps while the U.S. investigation proceeds and no criminal charges have been filed.