South Korea said Friday that it had expressed “concern and regret” to the U.S. Embassy over an immigration raid on a Hyundai facility in Georgia during which it said “many” South Korean nationals had been detained.
“The economic activities of our companies investing in the U.S. and the rights and interests of our nationals must not be unfairly violated,” said Lee Jae-woong, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry of the key U.S. ally, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as Homeland Security Investigations and other federal agencies were involved in the operation on Thursday, which an ICE spokesperson said was conducted in connection with an investigation into “unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes.”
Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia, told reporters on Thursday afternoon that the alleged unlawful practices were taking place at the “multi-hundred acre” construction site where South Korean companies Hyundai and LG Energy Solution are jointly building a new battery plant next to their manufacturing facility for electric vehicles.
The facility in the town of Ellabell, about 28 miles west of the city of Savannah, employs about 1,400 people. It is considered one of Georgia’s largest and most high-profile manufacturing sites, according to The Associated Press.
