Federal authorities detained hundreds at Hyundai’s sprawling factory site in Georgia, pausing work amid an immigration and labor probe.
Work at Hyundai’s Georgia complex that manufactures electric vehicles has been suspended after federal authorities detained hundreds of workers in a major immigration enforcement operation on Thursday, officials said.
On Sept. 4, federal authorities entered a worksite in Bryan County, Georgia, where South Korean manufacturing companies Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution are building a $4.3 billion battery cell manufacturing plant.
Authorities from the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department said that about 450 workers were detained. A number of South Korean nationals were detained.
A spokesperson at Hyundai’s battery joint venture partner, South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solutions, said construction had been paused and that it was cooperating with law enforcement.
In a Sept. 5 statement, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said that “many” South Korean nationals were detained during the operation.
“The economic activities of our companies investing in the United States and the interests of our citizens must not be unduly violated during the course of U.S. law enforcement,” ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said.
In a press briefing conducted near the site on Sept. 4, Steven Schrank, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations for Georgia, said the operation was “judicially authorized” as the agency is looking into unlawful employment practices at the construction site.
In a follow-up briefing on Sept. 5, Schrank said that 475 people were arrested, of whom a majority were South Korean nationals. So far, he said, no charges have been filed.
Schrank called the operation “the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security investigations.”
The plant is being built by HL-GA Battery Company, a joint venture between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, at Hyundai’s existing electric vehicle assembly metaplant near Savannah, Georgia. The battery plant is expected to produce batteries for Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis electric vehicles. It is part of Hyundai’s broader $12.6 billion investment in Georgia.
