After hundreds of South Korean nationals were arrested in an immigration raid at the Hyundai Motor–LG car battery factory in the U.S. state of Georgia, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung instructed officials to take all necessary measures regarding the incident. The raid was carried out on Thursday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A total of 475 workers were detained, more than 300 of them South Korean citizens. This is considered the largest immigration enforcement action at a single site in U.S. history.
According to South Korea’s state news agency Yonhap, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Saturday that President Lee had ordered authorities to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. He stressed that the rights and interests of South Korean companies investing in the U.S., as well as those of their citizens, must not be violated. Cho said a task force has been set up to handle the cases of the more than 300 detained South Koreans, and that he would personally travel to Washington, D.C., if necessary to meet with U.S. officials. The raid is part of President Donald Trump’s intensifying immigration policy. The factory was being built to produce batteries for electric vehicles.
Responding to a question from a reporter at the White House on Friday, Trump said: “They were illegal aliens, and ICE was just doing its job.”
ICE official Steven Schrank defended the arrests, saying that some of the detained individuals had crossed the border illegally, some were working on visas that did not authorize employment, and others had overstayed their visas.
South Korea’s opposition People Power Party (PPP) strongly condemned the arrests. Party chairman Jang Dong-hyuk issued a statement warning that the incident could pose a serious threat to the country. PPP spokesperson Park Sung-hoon blamed President Lee, accusing his U.S. policy of failing to protect the safety of citizens and the competitiveness of South Korean businesses.
Hyundai released a statement saying it was closely monitoring the situation but clarified that none of the detainees were direct employees of the company.
LG Energy Solution also said it was collecting all relevant information and would fully cooperate with authorities.
As Asia’s fourth-largest economy, South Korea is a major manufacturer of automobiles and electronics with numerous factories in the United States. To avoid Trump’s tariffs and gain access to the U.S. market, its companies have invested billions of dollars in building plants across America.
