South Korea’s President, Lee Jae Myung, has ordered “all-out efforts” to respond to the arrest of hundreds of its citizens by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a raid at a factory being built in Georgia.
Cho Hyun, the Foreign Minister, said that the government had set up a taskforce following the arrest of 300 South Korean nationals. He added that he would travel to Washington if necessary and felt a “heavy responsibility” over the arrests.
This came after Immigration authorities said that they detained 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals, when hundreds of federal agents raided the sprawling manufacturing site in Georgia where Korean automaker Hyundai makes electric vehicles.
Agents also focused their operation on an adjacent plant that is still under construction at which Hyundai has partnered with LG Energy Solution to produce batteries that power EVs.
Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent of Homeland Security Investigations, said during a news conference that the raid resulted from a monthslong investigation into allegations of illegal hiring at the site and was the “largest single site enforcement operation” in the agency’s two-decade history. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US in New York and Washington DC.
The South Korean government expressed “concern and regret” over the operation targeting its citizens.
Koreans are rarely caught up in immigration enforcement compared to other nationalities. Only 46 Koreans were deported during the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2024, out of more than 270,000 removals for all nationalities, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong said in a televised statement from Seoul, “The business activities of our investors and the rights of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed in the process of US law enforcement.”
The raid also sent alarm bells ringing for South Korea’s LG Energy Solution (LGES), which suspended its employees’ business travel to the US after 47 of its employees were detained.
The company asked those currently on business there to return to Korea immediately and said its executive would travel to the US on Sunday in response to the arrest of its staff.
The raid dealt a setback to the company’s substantial project in Georgia and was a dramatic iteration of the Trump administration’s harsh crackdown on immigrants in the US.
The facility is part of what would be the biggest industrial investment in the state’s history and had been hailed as a huge boost for the economy by Georgia’s Republican Governor, Brian Kemp.
The raid showed the disruptive impact that Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda is having on businesses, even as the White House tries to spur more inflows from foreign investors.
Arrests Likely To Worsen Tensions Between US, South Korea
The arrests could exacerbate tensions between Washington and Seoul, a key ally and investor in the US.
The countries have been at odds over the details of a trade deal that includes $350bn of investments. At a summit last month, South Korea pledged $150bn in US investments, including $26bn from Hyundai Motor.
A spokesperson at the Hyundai-GA battery company in Georgia said in a statement that it was cooperating fully and that it had paused construction work.
DHS officials said the workers who were arrested were barred from working in the US after crossing the border illegally or overstaying visas, following an investigation lasting several months.
A Hyundai Motor spokesperson said none of the people detained was employed directly by the automaker, which complies “with all laws and regulations wherever we operate.”
Hyundai Motor also said that its production of electric vehicles at the sprawling site was not affected.
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