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The South Korean government has announced an agreement with the United States regarding the release of its citizens detained during a large-scale immigration enforcement action at a Hyundai plant in Georgia.
According to the South Korean president’s chief of staff, arrangements are being made to dispatch a chartered aircraft to repatriate the detained individuals, pending the completion of administrative procedures.
Kang Hoon-sik also stated that authorities are working to refine the visa system to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
U.S. officials apprehended 475 individuals, including over 300 South Korean nationals, whom they allege were employed unlawfully at the battery manufacturing facility, a significant foreign investment endeavor in the state.
Reports from media outlets in both countries indicate that South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is expected to travel to the United States on Monday.
The White House has defended the operation at the Hyundai plant, dismissing concerns that the enforcement action could negatively impact foreign investment.
“They were illegal aliens and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] was just doing its job,” President Donald Trump stated following the raids on Friday.
On Sunday, Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s border security advisor, suggested on CNN’s State of the Union that further, similar enforcement actions like the one at the Hyundai plant are likely.
“We’re going to do more work site enforcement operations,” Homan stated.
“No one hires an illegal alien out of the goodness of their heart. They hire them because they can work them harder, pay them less, undercut the competition that hires US citizen employees.”
Video footage released by ICE officials depicted Asian workers in restraints in front of a building, some wearing yellow vests bearing names such as “Hyundai” and “LG CNS.”
“People on short-term or recreational visas are not authorized to work in the US,” ICE stated, adding that the raid was necessary to safeguard American jobs.
“This operation sends a clear message that those who exploit the system and undermine our workforce will be held accountable,” Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent Steven Schrank said in a statement on Saturday.
South Korea, a key U.S. ally, has committed tens of billions of dollars to manufacturing investments in the United States, partly to mitigate the impact of tariffs.
The timing of the raid, coinciding with sensitive trade negotiations between the two governments, has generated apprehension in Seoul.
The Trump administration has actively solicited major investments from foreign countries while simultaneously tightening visa regulations for foreign companies.
LG Energy Solution, which co-operates the plant with Hyundai, has indicated that many of its arrested employees were in the U.S. on business trips utilizing various visa types or under a visa waiver program.
The company has announced the suspension of most business travel to the United States and has instructed employees currently on assignment in the U.S. to return home immediately.
South Korean media outlets have widely described the raid as a “shock,” with the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper cautioning that it could have “a chilling effect on the activities of our businesses in the United States.”
The factory, which manufactures electric vehicles, had been promoted by the Republican governor of Georgia as the largest economic development project in the state’s history, employing 1,200 individuals.
The arrested workers are currently being held at an ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia.
LG Energy Solution reported that 47 of its employees and approximately 250 workers employed by contractors at the joint venture factory were detained.
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