Staff detained in an immigration raid within the US state of Georgia are to be launched and flown house, officers verify.
Printed On 7 Sep 2025
Greater than 300 South Korean employees detained in the US in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia shall be launched and introduced house, the South Korean authorities has introduced.
Presidential chief of employees Kang Hoon-sik mentioned Sunday that South Korea and the US had finalised negotiations on the discharge of the employees whom US immigration authorities had detained on Thursday.
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He mentioned South Korea plans to ship a constitution aircraft to convey the employees house as quickly because the remaining administrative steps are accomplished.
US immigration authorities mentioned on Friday that they’d detained 475 individuals, most of them South Korean nationals, when a whole lot of federal brokers raided Hyundai’s sprawling manufacturing website in Georgia, the place the Korean automaker makes electrical automobiles.
A spokesperson mentioned the immigration element of the raid got here as half of a bigger, months-long investigation into labour practices on the website.
Video launched by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Saturday confirmed a caravan of automobiles driving as much as the positioning after which federal brokers directing employees to line up exterior.
Some detainees have been ordered to place their arms up in opposition to a bus as they have been frisked after which shackled round their arms, ankles and waists.
Trump targets immigrant workforce
Since US President Donald Trump returned to energy in January, ICE has been bolstered by report funding and new latitude to conduct raids as a part of a crackdown on immigrants and refugees.
The Pew Analysis Heart, citing preliminary Census Bureau information, mentioned the US labour power misplaced greater than 1.2 million immigrants from January by July.
The president has mentioned he needs to deport “the worst of the worst” criminals. However ICE figures present an increase within the detainment of noncriminals.
This newest raid highlights the disruptive impact Trump’s anti-immigration crackdown is having on his efforts to draw overseas funding. The Hyundai-LG complicated is a part of the most important overseas funding within the state of Georgia.
Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea’s greatest automaker, started manufacturing electrical automobiles a yr in the past on the $7.6bn plant, which employs about 1,200 individuals. The corporate has partnered with LG Vitality Resolution to construct an adjoining battery plant, slated to open subsequent yr.
Brokers centered their operation on the plant that’s nonetheless below development.
Most people detained have been taken to an immigration detention centre in Folkston, Georgia, close to the Florida state line. None has been charged with any crimes but, Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent of Homeland Safety Investigations, mentioned throughout a information convention on Friday, including that the investigation is ongoing.
A ‘critical threat to the nation’
South Korea, an in depth ally of the US, expressed “concern and remorse” over the raid concentrating on its residents and despatched diplomats to the positioning.
South Korean Overseas Minister Cho Hyun on Saturday mentioned President Lee Jae-myung had instructed officers to swiftly resolve the matter, stressing that the rights and pursuits of South Korean nationals and the enterprise operations of South Korean corporations investing within the US “should not be infringed upon”, South Korea’s Yonhap Information Company mentioned in a report.
South Korea’s opposition Folks Energy Occasion (PPP) reacted angrily to the detentions, warning they “might pose a critical threat” to the nation.
Senior PPP spokesperson Park Sung-hoon blamed Lee for the incident, saying his “pragmatic diplomacy” in direction of the US “failed to make sure each the security of residents and the competitiveness” of South Korean companies.
He mentioned Lee’s authorities even promised not less than $50bn of investments throughout his latest assembly with Trump, a gesture that resulted solely in a “crackdown” in opposition to South Korean residents.
