Immigration officials arrested hundreds of workers from a large South Korean battery manufacturer at a Hyundai factory in Georgia, US officials said on Friday, calling it the largest internal safety operation ever performed in one place.
Agents arrested on Thursday 475 people, mostly South Korean citizens, in a construction site for an electric vehicle battery factory in Ellabell, Georgia, near Savannah, Steven Schrank, a special agent responsible for homeland security investigations in Georgia, said at a press conference.
The operation was the culmination of an investigation that lasted several months, he said.
Schrank said prisoners were in the United States illegally or working irregularly. No criminal accusation was announced on Friday, saying that the investigators were still investigating details of the employment of the detainees, some of whom worked for subcontractors, he added.
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The operation aimed to ensure “fair conditions for companies that comply with the law,” said Schrank.
Most prisoners were maintained on Thursday night at the Folkston detention installation in Georgia.
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Battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution, which is co -owned by the factory along with the Hyundai Motor Group, said in a statement that its employees and those of the partner companies were detained.
Hyundai stated in a statement that, as far as the company knows, none of the detainees was an employee of Hyundai.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and working to understand specific circumstances,” Hyundai said on Friday.
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The company added that it is reviewing its processes “to ensure that all parties involved in our projects keep the same high standards of legal conformity we demand from ourselves,” including “a rigorous verification of employment practices by contractors and subcontractors.”
The South Korean Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday that South Koreans were among the detainees, without informing how many.
Schrank told factory reporters on Thursday that some US citizens and legal permanent residents were initially detained and were being released.
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Charles Kuck, an immigration lawyer in Atlanta, said two of his clients, who were in the country under a visa exemption program that allows for tourism or business for up to 90 days without visa, were caught in the operation.
“My clients were doing exactly what was allowed under the visa exemption program-attending business meetings,” he said on Friday, noting that one of them had just arrived on Tuesday and would leave next week. “
“It seems that Ice was a little exaggerated by arresting no immigrants who were clearly obeying the law,” he said.
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James Woo, Communication Director of Asian Americans’ Atlanta Office Advance Justice, said he spent the day on the phone with South Korean residents throughout Georgia.
“People are in shock,” Woo said, adding that there is great concern about how detainees are being treated by the agents of. He noted that the Korean community in Savannah is small and “never integrated” with the factory and its workers.
“There are no resources you would find in Atlanta,” he said. “People don’t know where to go or how to find legal representation.”
The operation, part of the repression of immigration from President Donald Trump, caused a diplomatic alarm in South Korea.
A little over a week earlier, Trump received South Korea President Lee-Myung at the White House, where South Korean leader promised to invest $ 150 billion plus dollars in the United States, including battery manufacturing.
When asked on Friday if he was concerned about the conflict between his immigration agenda and economic goals, Trump said Ice was just doing his work.
“They entered illegally. They entered our country. So we have to do our work,” he told a reporter.
Thursday’s operation remembered other workplace beats, including a large performed at various locations in Mississippi during Trump’s first term. In 2019, federal agents invaded several companies in an action that, at the time, was possibly considered the largest inspection operation in a single state.
More than 600 immigrants believed to be working without legal documentation were arrested in this operation. Biden Administration announced in 2021 that it would cease to practice surveillance operations in companies.
In another major operation during the government of President George W. Bush, 389 workers were arrested at a Kosher meat processing company in Postville, Iowa, in May 2008. The company bankrupt later that year.
The Ion-Lithium Battery Factory, which preceded Lee’s promise, should start operating next year. It is the type of large -scale investment that creates jobs and that the United States have sought from South Korea and other nations.
South Korean companies have invested dozens of billions of dollars in American manufacturing in recent years, much of federal subsidies and tax benefits for semiconductor factories and electric vehicles.
Trump administration has already retreated in some of these commitments, possibly damaging the expected returns for giants such as SK Group, LG and Samsung.
In late July, the White House signed a deal with South Korea that would establish 15% tariffs on most exports in the country to the United States.
South Korean executives have told local media that they need their own technicians at least temporarily to put all factories in operation. And at the same time, South Korean companies are paying billions of dollars in tariffs, reducing the capital available to invest in new factories.
The site in Ellabell is part of one of Georgia’s largest factories. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Republican, promoted Hyundai’s electric vehicle factory, valued at $ 7.6 billion, as the largest economic development project in state history.
Immigration operation paralyzed construction at the battery factory, known as HL-GO Battery Co. spokesman Mary Beth Kennedy said in a statement that the factory is cooperating with the authorities.
Jongwon Lee, Korean lawyer who works in the Atlanta Metropolitan Region, said on Friday that South Korean conglomerates are bringing large investments to the United States, but there are not enough visas to sponsor qualified workers to operate these factories.
The guilt, according to him, is from the American system of visas. The United States “invited us to invest in the country, but do not give appropriate visas for Koreans.”
State Representative Sam Park, Democrat, called the operation of “politically motivated attack” against Georgia workers and families.
“These beats target people who are building our clean energy future while destroying families,” he said. “Georgia’s prosperity depends on the protection of workers, not their criminalization.”
Embassy and South Korea Embassy employees were sent to the scene from Washington and Atlanta, Lee Jaewoong, spokesman for South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference on Friday.
“The economic activities of our investing companies and the rights and interests of our citizens should not be unfairly violated during US law application procedures,” he said.
LG Energy Solution said it is working with the South Korean government to get the release of its employees as well as those of partner companies.
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