New York

When the US Department of Homeland Security conducted its largest single-site enforcement operation in history at the Hyundai – LG Battery Plant in Georgia earlier this month, Hyundai’s CEO was working out of his California office. He said he found out about it on the news.

“I could not believe what I saw because I would’ve known normally before the news,” CEO José Muñoz told CNN in a media roundtable Thursday.

Muñoz said that the EV battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia, is operated by South Korea’s LG Energy Solution, which is likely why he wasn’t notified right away. More than 300 South Korean workers were detained by ICE during a raid at the joint venture on September 4th and were deported back to South Korea last week. Muñoz says he’s been in touch with the Trump administration since the raid.