Released on September 5th, 2025
South Korea complains after U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials were taken into custody after detaining hundreds of people, including suspected Korean workers, during the attack on the Hyundai LG battery plant built in Georgia.
On Friday, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry called for respect for the rights of investors and citizens following the attack a day ago.
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Hours later, on Friday, the US Department of Homeland Security confirmed that 475 people, the majority of South Korea, had been detained in the attack. A spokesperson said the migrant element of the attack came as part of a larger, multi-month investigation into labor practices at the site.
The episode highlights the devastating impact of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown on his efforts to attract foreign investment. The Hyundai LG plant is some of Georgia’s largest foreign investment.
“Our investors’ business activities and citizens’ rights should not be unfairly violated during the course of US law enforcement,” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Jae-won said at the aired address.
Since Trump returned to power in January, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) agency has been strengthened with record funding and raids with new latitudes.
The president says he wants to deport “the worst, the worst, the worst” criminals. However, ice figures show an increase in detention for non-criminals.
Trump has also shifted the administration’s approach to workplace raids. Business leaders warn that undocumented seasonal workers could undermine industries that cannot be easily replaced by domestic work.
The Pew Research Center said the US workforce lost more than 1.2 million immigrants from January to July this year, citing preliminary Census Bureau data.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson framed the Hyundai raid as part of a broader enforcement campaign against undocumented foreign workers.
“Foreign workers brought in for a particular project must enter the United States with legally appropriate work permits,” Jackson said. “President Trump will continue to continue his promise that the United States will be the best place in the world to do business while enforcing federal immigration laws.”
Stephen Schrank, a special agent in the Atlanta homeland security investigation, said the operation “emphasizes its commitment to employment for Georgians and Americans.”
He described the raid as “the largest single-site enforcement operation” in the history of the department. The Department of Homeland Security oversees a variety of sub-agencies, including the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), US Customs and Border Protection, Secret Service, and several national security organizations.
Thursday’s attack targeted a manufacturing site that is being promoted by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp as the largest economic development project in the state’s history.
The largest automobile manufacturer in Korea, Hyundai Motor Group, began manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) a year ago at a $7.6 billion factory employing around 1,200 people. The company partnered with LG Energy Solution to build an adjacent battery plant that is scheduled to open next year.
In a report from Washington, D.C., Al Jazeera’s Mike Hannah said she reported how many individuals were detained for being in the US without proper documentation and that she may have been arrested for other violations.
“It’s a bit of a mishmash and it’s not clear what will happen to those arrested during this operation,” he said.
South Korean government officials previously told Reuters that many of the detainees were being detained in ice detention facilities.
During the televised broadcast, South Korea’s top diplomat Lee said his country plans to take aggressive steps to deal with the lawsuit, send diplomats from the Atlanta embassy to the site and set up a field response team centered around local missions.
In July, Seoul pledged $3500 billion in US investments to mitigate tariff threats from Trump. The US President hosted South Korean President Lee Jae-myeon at the White House in August.
