South Korea charters plane to fly home over 300 workers detained by ICE at Georgia Hyundai plant
South Korea's foreign minister is considering a trip to the U.S. to meet with the Trump administration after hundreds of South Korean nationals were arrested in Georgia this week at an electric vehicle battery plant.
"We are deeply concerned and feel a heavy sense of responsibility over the arrests of our nationals," Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said at an emergency meeting in Seoul, according to the national Yonhap News Agency.
He said South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for all-out efforts to swiftly resolve the matter, Yonhap reported, "stressing that the rights and interests of South Korean nationals and the business operations of South Korean companies investing in the United States must not be infringed upon."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals, in a raid Thursday at a massive electric vehicle battery plant under construction in Ellabell, Ga., near Savannah. The plant is a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution.
On Sunday, Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said that South Korea and the U.S. had finalized negotiations on the workers' release, with South Korea planning to send a charter plane to bring more than 300 workers home, as soon as remaining administrative steps are completed.
ICE released video of what officials say is the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Homeland Security Investigations. It shows officers shackling workers and loading them onto Georgia prison buses.
"This operation underscores our commitment to protecting jobs for Georgians and Americans," said Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of homeland security investigations for Georgia and Alabama, during a news conference announcing the operation. "We are sending a clear and unequivocal message that those who exploit our workforce, undermine our economy and violate federal laws will be held accountable."
He said it was not an operation where agents simply rounded up people and put them on buses, but the result of a months-long investigation. The workers, Schrank said, were either illegally present in the U.S. or working unlawfully.
https://www.kasu.org/business-economy/2025-09-06/south-korea-charters-plane-to-fly-home-over-300-workers-detained-by-ice-at-georgia-hyundai-plant
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/09/07/south-korea-workers-hyundai-immigration/86026312007/
United States Immigration agents detained about 475 people, including more than 300 Koreans, at an under-construction battery facility 30 miles northwest of Savannah on Sept. 4. Federal officials said the workers violated an array of immigration laws, including some who illegally crossed the U.S. border and others in the country on tourist visas that do not allow them to work.
Federal officials said during a Sept. 5 news conference the operation was primarily focused on criminal violations of employment laws, not on immigration action.