More than 300 South Korean nationals were among 475 workers arrested by U.S. immigration authorities during a raid at a Hyundai-LG battery factory construction site in Georgia, South Korea’s foreign minister said Saturday.
Steven Schrank, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent in Atlanta, earlier said Thursday's operation was the largest single site raid carried out so far under U.S. President Donald Trump's nationwide anti-migrant drive.
The raid stemmed from a "criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and serious federal crimes" at the Hyundai Motor-LG Energy Solution joint venture plant in the town of Ellabell, Schrank told reporters on Friday.
"This was not an immigration operation where agents went into the premises, rounded up folks and put them on buses," he said. "This has been a multi-month criminal investigation."
Foreign minister Cho Hyun said at an emergency meeting in Seoul that, of the 475 arrested, "more than 300 are believed to be our nationals."
