ICE Raid at Georgia Hyundai Lithium-ion Battery Plant Prompted Diplomatic Concern in Seoul

A massive federal immigration raid at Hyundai–LG's battery plant site in Ellabell, Georgia, led to the arrest of 475 workers — most of them Korean nationals.

This was the largest worksite enforcement operation in Homeland Security Investigations' history. The multi-agency operation drew global attention, with dramatic visuals showing workers fleeing and federal agents swarming the site.

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“South Koreans Are Swept Up in Immigration Raid at Hyundai Plant in Georgia”

— Source: The New York Times

They were among nearly 500 workers apprehended at a construction site for a South Korean battery maker, officials said. The episode prompted diplomatic concern in Seoul."

The Hyundai plant in Ellabel, Ga., in March. Mike Stewart /Associated Press

Immigration authorities arrested hundreds of workers for a major South Korean battery maker at a Hyundai plant in Georgia, U.S. officials said on Friday, calling it the largest-ever Homeland Security enforcement operation at a single location.

Agents on Thursday arrested 475 people, most of whom are South Korean citizens, at a construction site for an electric vehicle battery plant in Ellabell, Ga., near Savannah, Steven Schrank, a special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Georgia, said at a news conference.

The raid was the culmination of an investigation that took place over several months, he said.

Mr. Schrank said that the workers arrested were in the United States illegally or were working unlawfully. No criminal charges would be announced on Friday, he said, adding that investigators were still determining employment details for those arrested, some of whom worked for subcontractors.

The operation aimed to ensure “a level playing field for businesses that comply with the law,” Mr. Schrank said.

Most of those arrested were held at the Folkston detention facility in Georgia on Thursday night.

The battery manufacturer, LG Energy Solution, which co-owns the plant with Hyundai Motor Group, said in a statement that its employees and those from its partnering companies had been taken into custody.

Hyundai said in a statement that none of those detained were Hyundai employees, as far as the company was aware.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and working to understand the specific circumstances,” Hyundai said on Friday.

It added that it was reviewing its processes “to ensure that all parties working on our projects maintain the same high standards of legal compliance that we demand of ourselves,” including “thorough vetting of employment practices by contractors and subcontractors.”

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday that South Koreans were among those in custody, without saying how many.

Mr. Schrank told reporters at the plant on Thursday that some U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents had been detained initially and were being released.

Charles Kuck, an immigration lawyer in Atlanta, said two of his clients who were in the country under a visa waiver program that enables them to travel for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa were caught up in the raid.

“My clients were doing exactly what they were allowed to do under the visa waiver — attend business meetings,” he said on Friday, noting that one of them “had just arrived on Tuesday and was leaving next week.”

A Homeland Security official said 475 people, most of whom are South Korean citizens, were arrested at a construction site in Ellabell, Ga., on Friday. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives

“It appears that ICE was somewhat overzealous in arresting nonimmigrants who were clearly obeying the law,” he said.

James Woo, communications director for the Atlanta office of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said he had been on the phone all day with South Korean residents across Georgia.

“People are in shock,” Mr. Woo said, adding that there was deep concern about how those arrested were being treated by ICE officials. He noted that the Korean community in Savannah was small and “has never become one” with the plant and its workers.

“There aren’t the same resources you’d find in Atlanta,” he said. “People don’t know where to go or how to find legal representation.”

The operation, part of President Trump’s crackdown on immigration, caused diplomatic alarm in South Korea.

Just over a week earlier, Mr. Trump hosted President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea at the White House, where the South Korean leader pledged to invest an additional $150 billion in the United States, including in battery manufacturing.

When asked on Friday whether he was concerned about his immigration agenda clashing with economic goals, Mr. Trump said that ICE was just doing its job.

“They came through illegally. They came into our country. So we have to do our job,” he told a reporter.

The operation on Thursday echoed other workplace raids, including a huge one conducted across various work sites in Mississippi during Mr. Trump’s first term. In 2019, federal agents raided several companies in what officials said at the time might have been the largest work-site enforcement action ever in a single state.

More than 600 immigrants who were believed to be working without legal documentation were apprehended during that operation. The Biden administration announced it was ceasing the practice of enforcement operations at businesses in 2021.

In another large workplace raid under the administration of President George W. Bush, 389 workers were arrested at a kosher meatpacking company in Postville, Iowa, in May 2008. The company filed for bankruptcy later that year.

The lithium-ion battery plant, which predated Mr. Lee’s pledge, was expected to start operating next year. It is the kind of large-scale, job-creating investment that the United States has sought from South Korea and other nations.

South Korean companies have invested tens of billions of dollars in American manufacturing in recent years, much of it incentivized by federal subsidies and tax breaks for semiconductor plants and electric vehicle factories.

The Trump administration has already backtracked on some of those commitments, possibly damaging anticipated returns for giants like SK Group, LG, and Samsung.

In late July, the White House struck a deal with South Korea that would set 15 percent tariffs on most of the country’s exports to the United States.

South Korean executives told local media that they need their own technicians on-site, at least temporarily, to get all of their factories up and running. And at the same time, South Korean companies are paying billions of dollars in tariffs, diminishing the capital available to spend on new plants.

The Ellabell site is part of one of Georgia’s largest manufacturing plants. Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, a Republican, has promoted the $7.6 billion Hyundai E.V. factory there as the largest economic development project in state history.

The immigration operation brought construction to a halt at the battery plant, known as HL-GA Battery Company. A spokeswoman, Mary Beth Kennedy, said in a statement that the plant was cooperating with the authorities.

Jongwon Lee, a Korean lawyer who works in metro Atlanta, said on Friday that South Korean conglomerates are bringing huge investments into the United States, but there aren’t enough visas to sponsor trained workers to run these factories.

The blame lies with the American visa system, he said. The United States “invited us to invest in the U.S., but they don’t give Koreans proper visas.”

State Representative Sam Park, a Democrat, called the raid a “politically motivated attack” on Georgia workers and families.

“These raids target the very people building our clean energy future while tearing families apart,” he said. “Georgia’s prosperity depends on protecting workers, not criminalizing them.”

South Korean Embassy and consular officials were sent to the site from Washington and Atlanta, Lee Jaewoong, a spokesman for South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said at a news conference on Friday.

“The economic activities of our investment companies and the rights and interests of our citizens must not be unjustly violated during U.S. law enforcement proceedings,” he said.

LG Energy Solution said that it was working with the South Korean government to get its employees, as well as those in its partnering companies, released.

Reporting was contributed by Erica L. Green, Christian Boone, Neal E. Boudette, Lydia DePillis, and Miriam Jordan.

John Yoon is a Times reporter based in Seoul who covers breaking and trending news.

Jenny Gross is a reporter for The Times covering breaking news and other topics.

Aimee Ortiz covers breaking news and other topics.

Ashley Ahn covers breaking news for The Times from New York.

Source: The New York Times