Login to Continue Learning
WASHINGTONTens of South Korean workers at a Hyundai-LG battery plant in Georgia, who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will soon return to their homeland.
About 475 people, including more than 300 Koreans, were detained at an under-construction battery facility about 30 miles northwest of Savannah on September 4. Federal officials stated that the workers violated various immigration laws, with some illegally crossing the U.S. border and others in the country on tourist visas that do not permit employment.
In televised remarks on September 7, South Korea’s Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hun-sik said negotiations with the U.S. had concluded, and the workers would fly home after completing additional administrative procedures. They will depart for South Korea on a chartered plane, he added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The raid on the HL-GA Battery Company plant was the largest single-site workplace enforcement operation in Department of Homeland Security history. Video released by U.S. ICE showed shackled workers being escorted onto buses.
Federal officials stated during a September 5 news conference that the operation primarily targeted criminal violations of employment laws, not immigration actions.
