When hundreds of federal, state and local officials went to a manufacturing plant in Georgia Hyundai last week, they came with a judicial search command, named four people. Ultimately, over 450 people were taken into custody, according to the officials who were suspected to live and work illegally in the United States.
The RAID with high operations followed a month-long examination and marked the largest passage in the immigration of the Trump government in US construction sites. The effects reached the halls of diplomacy and prompted South Korea's Foreign Minister, personally to Washington, DC, to “work directly with US officials in order to solve this matter.”
According to the country's Foreign Minister, a majority of the arrested – over 300 – South Koreans and are now to return to South Korea on a chartered flight in the immigration lawyers, in which immigration lawyers describe a unique agreement.
“I know no other instance in which a government answered with a flight with charter,” Sarah Owings, an immigration lawyer who represents some of the South Koreans detained on Thursday, to CNN.
An empty Korean aircraft will be left to Atlanta on Wednesday morning to repatriate the workers recorded in Georgia, a spokesman for the airline told CNN. The plane, a Boeing 747, which can wear 368 people, is expected to start the 15-hour return flight into the return late Wednesday afternoon, the spokesman said.
The persons held by the US immigration authorities will “return home soon”, said South Korean President Lee Jae Jae Myung on Tuesday and expressed his “warm consolation” to everyone.
The South Korean leader condemned the prison sentence as “unjust violations of the activities of our people and company” and hoped that such practices “did not happen again”.
The South Korean government has actively worked on securing the release of the workers together with its representatives of the Korean embassy in Washington, DC and the Consulate General in Atlanta.
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun left Seoul on Monday evening in Washington, DC, when Seoul works to bring the nationals back “after voluntary departure” as soon as possible, said the spokesman for the ministry.
“The government will ensure that all the necessary measures are carried out effectively in order to achieve both the fast release of our detained citizens and the stable implementation of the investment projects,” said Kang Hoon-Sik, chief of staff of the South Korean president.
We know the following about the imprisoned workers, their expected return to South Korea and the extensive Hyundai -LG battery system in which they worked.
According to Jorge Gavilanes, the Korean government's measures are an immigration lawyer based in Atlanta who works for a law firm contacted by a few prisoners.
“After what we have seen over the years with immigration and different administrations, (the Charter) seems to be useful due to their immigration status,” Gavilanes told CNN.
It is unclear what kind of visa the Korean citizens had in the factory. According to Steven Schrank, a responsible special representative of Homeland Security, some of the 475 detained in the USA came illegally, while others had exceeded their visas. Others were here as part of the USVISA reference program, which enables employees to travel for tourism or business for up to 90 days, and then the work was prohibited.
“If you enter the program for the exception of Visa, you have no opportunity to see a judge who is removed, you will simply automatically enact an order by ice to leave the country, said Gavilanes. Usually these people would be removed from the United States at the government's expensePresent But in this case he said The South Korean government takes the bill.
“It seems that South Korea's best interest is to get her people back as soon as possible,” said Gavilanes.
Lawyers of some of the imprisoned workers insist that their clients have legally worked at the Georgia location, a joint venture between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, two power plants from the South Korean industry.
The immigration lawyer Charles Kuck told CNN that two detained workers he represents were authorized to work under a waiver of visa. One came in the USA towards the end of August, and the other came a few weeks ago, said Kuck and noticed that both engineers who came to the USA were “briefly advised about the work”.
Kuck said that his customers “had a certain time they would be here and going here for a certain task that they had assigned here as part of their company's contract with Hyundai.”
While none of the Korean nationals worked directly for Hyundai, around 50 of them worked for LG Energy Solutions. Another 250 mostly Korean national employees worked for the HL-GA Battery Company LLC, which works under Hyundai and LG.
In a statement to CNN, a spokesman for the LG Energy Solution said that the company is working with the process: “We will commit our best efforts to ensure the safe and immediate return of our employees and that of our partners.”
When the company was asked on Monday about the visa status of the detained employees, the company CNN said: “The visa status of the detained people is being examined so that we do not yet know.”
CNN has contacted the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Authority and Hyundai to get a comment.
Previously, LG Energy Solution CNN announced that his head of the HR department traveled to Georgia and that the top priority of the company was the “immediate publication” of the detained employees.
The company also said that most of the business trips to the United States. “Currently traveling employees are recommended to return home immediately or stay in their accommodations, taking into account their current work status,” says an explanation.
Outside the facility on Saturday, the demonstrators gathered with brave banners and sang in Spanish and Korean, which justice demanded for the hundreds of employees.
“These people have families and relatives and they have no contact with them,” said a demonstrator who only gave his name as Kim to CNN and called the raid “disgusting”.
The workers arrived in the Hyundai Metaplant in Ellabell, Georgia – about 25 miles west of Savannah on Thursday.
The 2,900 hectare complex has two parts: a production of Hyundai Electric Vehicle and an EV battery under construction, which is a joint venture between Hyundai and LG. The facility was expected to employ up to 8,500 employees.
The RAID stuck the construction of the EV battery system, reported the Associated Press.
In 2022, Hyundai announced an agreement with the state of Georgia on the construction of Hyundai in Bryan County in Bryan County, the company said.
In a search order submitted on Tuesday in the southern district of Georgia, four people were expressly found to be searched. However, the authorities came with considerable staff and equipment, which suggested the intention to carry out a wider sweep.
“This was not an immigration operation in which agents went on the premises, summarized people and put them in buses,” said Schrank.
“This was a criminal investigation in several months, in which we developed evidence, carried out interviews, collected documents and presented this evidence to the court in order to receive legal searches.”
While closet said that the majority of prisoners were Korean, he did not complete the nationalities of the employees. Three were Japanese citizens, said Japanese chief cabinet secretary on Tuesday. Almost two dozen were Mexicans, said the Mexico Consulate in Atlanta at the weekend.
During the company, masked and armed agents stated that wore hard hats and safety vests when they acted while the officials overturned the facility, as the video material obtained from CNN showed.
Investigations for ice and home protection examinations were accompanied by the Georgia State Patrol, the FBI, the DEA, ATF and other agencies to execute a search command.
“Together we send a clear and clear message: Those who take advantage of our workforce, undermine our economy and violate federal laws are held accountable,” said the Department of Homeland Security in a statement.
