South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid

U.S. immigration agents raid Hyundai plant in Georgia — President Donald Trump's push to 'expand U.S. manufacturing has collided with his aggressive crackdown on immigration'

(Image credit: Corey Bullard / U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP)

What happened

South Korea Sunday said it will send an airplane to the U.S. to collect more than 300 of its citizens detained in an immigration raid on a Hyundai-LG Energy Solution electric-vehicle battery plant under construction in rural southeast Georgia. Seoul said the Trump administration had agreed to hand over the detained Koreans, who made up the bulk of the roughly 475 people shackled and jailed in Thursday's raid. No charges have yet been filed.

Who said what

This workplace raid was "distinct because of its large size and because the targeted site has been touted as Georgia's largest economic development project," The Associated Press said. South Korea, an "enthusiastic trading partner, expressed frustration" over the arrests, The New York Times said. The raid "revealed competing interests" inside the White House as President Donald Trump's push to "expand U.S. manufacturing has collided with his aggressive crackdown on immigration."

Hyundai said none of its employees were detained. LG said the U.S. arrested 47 of its workers and some 250 subcontractors. Homeland Security Investigations special agent Steven Schrank said that some of the detained workers had crossed the border illegally, some had overstayed or misused their visas and others were U.S. citizens or lawful residents who would be released.

South Korean companies have long complained that U.S. work visas are too scarce and hard to obtain, and for years many have "dispatched their own technical specialists to oversee the construction of U.S. factories using nonwork travel permits," the Los Angeles Times said. If "people can be arrested and prosecuted on immigration proceedings on this basis," that's "going to make people think twice about establishing factories in the United States," Sarah Owings, an immigration lawyer representing about 30 of the Korean detainees, told The Washington Post.

What next?

South Korea's foreign minister is traveling to Washington, D.C., today to finalize the repatriation deal. Trump told reporters Sunday night that "maybe we should help" foreign companies send employees to "train our people" about batteries and "let them stay for a little while." White House border czar Tom Homan told CNN there would be "a lot more worksite enforcement operations."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.