Immigration Raid Unfolds at Hyundai Plant in Georgia

Some 475 people were detained during an immigration raid at a sprawling Georgia site where South Korean auto company Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles, according to a Homeland Security official. Steven Schrank, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, said at a news briefing Friday that the majority of the people detained in the Thursday raid were from South Korea, the AP reports. He said it was the "largest single site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security Investigations."

• South Korean officials expressed concerns over the case. "The business activities of our investors and the rights of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed in the process of US law enforcement," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong said. He said the detained workers were part of a "network of subcontractors."

• The raid targeted one of Georgia's largest and most high-profile manufacturing sites, touted by Gov. Brian Kemp as the largest economic development project in the state's history. Hyundai began manufacturing EVs a year ago at the $7.6 billion plant west of Savannah and has partnered with LG Energy Solution to build an adjacent battery plant, slated to open next year. ICE spokesman Lindsay Williams said agents were focused on the construction site for the battery plant.
• LG said executives were among those taken into custody Thursday, the New York Times reports. Schrank said Thursday that some US citizens and lawful residents were released after initially being detained.
• Sources tell the Korea Economic Daily that many of the detained employees entered the US on short-term business visas or 90-day visa waivers. The sources say that with work permits hard to obtain, LG and its partners have been sending in teams of hundreds of engineers on short rotations to prepare the battery plant. "Washington wants rapid onshoring of advanced manufacturing facilities, but refuses to provide necessary visa allocations that would allow Korean specialists to transfer their know-how," one exec says.
• Hyundai and LG's battery joint venture, HL-GA Battery Company, said in a statement that it's "cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities" and paused construction of the battery site to assist their work.