SEOUL– South Korea expressed “concern and regret” on Friday after U.S. immigration authorities carried out a large-scale raid at a battery plant construction site in Georgia operated by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution, detaining about 450 workers, including more than 30 South Koreans.
The operation, conducted Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), targeted undocumented individuals at the Ellabell facility, an electric vehicle battery production plant under construction in Bryan County, west of Savannah, according to U.S. media reports.
“The economic activities of our companies investing in the U.S. and the rights and interests of our nationals must not be unfairly violated,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said at a press briefing in Seoul. “We conveyed our concern and regret through the U.S. Embassy in Seoul today.”
Seoul said it has dispatched embassy and consular officials from Washington and Atlanta to the site and set up an on-site task force to assist those detained. The South Korean consulate in Atlanta is also assembling a legal team, including Korean American attorneys, to visit the facility where the workers are being held.
Authorities said the detained South Koreans had entered the United States on short-term business visas (B1) or under the ESTA visa waiver program. They now face possible charges of illegal stay, according to reports citing U.S. immigration officials.
The incident underscores rising diplomatic sensitivity as South Korean firms expand their presence in the U.S. EV supply chain. The Hyundai-LG plant is a multi-billion-dollar investment seen as a cornerstone of cooperation between the two allies in the clean energy sector. (Source: IANS)
