Seoul (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – South Korea’s government announced it has finalised negotiations with the US to secure the release of its citizens detained during a large immigration raid at a Hyundai factory in Georgia.
The chief of staff of South Korea‘s president said a chartered plane would be sent to bring the detainees home if the administration procedures were completed. Kang Hoon-sik stated that authorities are working on improving the visa system to prevent similar incidents in the future.
How did the US immigration raid target the South Korean workers?
US officials detained 475 individuals, including over 300 South Korean nationals, for suspected illegal work at a battery facility operated jointly by Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, one of the state’s largest foreign investment projects.
ICE officials released a video showing Asian workers shackled in front of a building, some wearing yellow vests with names like “Hyundai” and “LG.” CNS”. “People on short-term or recreational visas are not authorised to work in the US,” ICE stated, adding that the raid was vital to defend US jobs.
How has the white house defended the raid’s impact?
The White House has upheld the operation and dismissed concerns that the raid might discourage foreign investment.
“They were illegal aliens and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] was just doing its job,”
President Donald Trump said following the raids on Friday.
How are Hyundai and LG Energy Solution responding?
In a statement, LG Energy Solution, which manages the plant alongside Hyundai, states that many of the LG employees arrested were on business trips using various visas or participating in a visa waiver programme. The workers who were detained are now being held at an ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia.
The company announced that it is suspending most business trips to the US and instructing employees in the US to return home immediately. LG Energy Solution announced that 47 of its employees and approximately 250 contract workers at the joint venture factory have been detained.
Georgia’s Republican governor has highlighted the factory, which produces new electric vehicles, as the largest economic development project in the state’s history, creating 1,200 jobs.
What earlier ICE raid most resembles these arrests?
The previous major instance where ICE made similar large-scale immigration arrests was the Postville raid in 2008. On May 12, 2008, ICE conducted a raid at the Agriprocessors kosher slaughterhouse and meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. This operation involved about 900 agents and resulted in the arrest of 398 employees, most of whom were Latino.
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