SEOUL– LG Energy Solution CEO Kim Dong-myung on Friday vowed full support for more than 300 South Korean workers who returned home after being detained in the United States during an immigration raid at a Georgia battery plant construction site.
Speaking at Incheon International Airport following the workers’ arrival aboard a Korean Air chartered flight, Kim expressed gratitude to South Korean government officials and U.S. counterparts for negotiating a swift resolution. “Although there were many difficulties, government officials worked hard to achieve this outcome. We are very grateful for the extraordinary efforts that led to such a prompt release and for the careful discussions that ensured no disadvantages for their re-entry into the U.S.,” Kim said.
The employees had been detained last week during a sweeping raid at the Georgia construction site of a Hyundai Motor Group–LG Energy Solution joint venture battery facility. U.S. authorities said the workers were in violation of visa restrictions, many having entered the country on short-term visitor or waiver programs.
Kim said the company would “spare no effort” to ensure the workers can resettle smoothly and downplayed concerns of severe disruption to the plant’s construction timeline, calling the situation “manageable.”
The episode prompted urgent diplomatic engagement. Senior South Korean officials traveled to Washington to press for their release, while executives from both Hyundai and LG went to Georgia to address fallout at the project site. Following negotiations, the workers were released from detention centers in Folkston, Georgia, and allowed to return home voluntarily rather than face formal deportation, which could have jeopardized future travel to the U.S.
The raid has raised concerns about delays to the multibillion-dollar battery plant project, which is central to Hyundai and LG’s U.S. electric vehicle supply chain strategy, as well as about potential strains in bilateral investment ties between Seoul and Washington.
