US federal authorities detained about 300 South Koreans in an immigration enforcement operation on Sept. 4.
The South Korean government on Sept. 7 said that the more than 300 South Korean workers who were detained during a federal immigration operation at a Georgia Hyundai plant will be released and sent home.
The South Korea and U.S. governments finalized negotiations on releasing the workers, said presidential chief of staff, Kang Hoon-sik. South Korea will send a charter plane to bring the workers back once the remaining administrative steps are concluded, he added.
On Friday, U.S. immigration authorities said they had arrested 475 people at the worksite, most of whom were South Korean nationals. Hundreds of federal agents had conducted an operation at the Korean automaker Hyundai’s large Georgia-based manufacturing plant, where it builds electric vehicles. More than 300 South Koreans were part of the group detained, said Cho Hyun, South Korea’s Foreign Minister.
In video footage released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Saturday, a caravan of vehicles can be seen approaching the site before federal agents direct workers to form a line outside. Agents told several detainees to put up their hands against a bus before frisking them. Some of the workers were shackled around their hands, ankles, and waists.
The plant, which is still under construction, is a partnership between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles. The Hyundai campus is one of Georgia’s largest economic development projects.
The majority of the detainees were sent to an immigration detention center in Folkston, Georgia, near the Florida border.
Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent of Homeland Security Investigations, said during a news conference on Sept. 5 that none of the arrested workers have been charged with crimes yet, as the investigation is still ongoing. The Sept. 4 operation was the largest federal immigration worksite operation in Homeland Security Investigations’s history, he said.
The South Korean government, a key U.S. ally, said it felt “concern and regret” regarding the operation targeting its citizens and has sent diplomats to the plant.
The effort continues the Trump administration’s focus on illegal immigration and deportations at businesses and workplaces that allegedly employ illegal immigrants.
By Jacob Burg
