The South Korean government is reportedly displeased by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in Ellabell, Georgia, on Thursday in which 300 South Korean nationals were detained for working without proper immigration papers at a battery plant.
South Korean consular officials said on Monday they were preparing to fly the detained and deported Korean nationals home with a chartered aircraft. The plane is scheduled to depart Jacksonville International Airport in Florida on Wednesday.
According to Cho Ki-joong, consul general at the Korean Embassy in Washington, DC, most of the detainees opted to return home instead of remaining in the U.S. to contest their detentions. He said the U.S. government had been very cooperative in arranging for their return.
ICE officials said the detainees were working illegally in the United States. Some of them held only short-term or recreational visas that would not have allowed them to hold jobs legally.
President Donald Trump addressed the situation at a press briefing on Sunday.
“It’s a very interesting situation that took place in Georgia,” he said. “I heard about it yesterday, at the same time ICE was doing right, because they were here illegally, but we do have to work something out.”
“So we bring in experts, so that our people can be trained so that they can do it themselves,” he said, addressing the battery plant’s apparent need to bring in foreign workers.
Trump said he did not believe the incident would damage relations between the U.S. and South Korea.
“We have a great relationship with South Korea, really good relationship. You know, we just made a trade deal,” he said.
Trump elaborated in a Truth Social post on Sunday evening:
Following the Immigration Enforcement Operation on the Hyundai Battery Plant in Georgia, I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws. Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so. What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers. Together, we will all work hard to make our Nation not only productive, but closer in unity than ever before. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Korea Joongang Daily (KJD) on Monday quoted First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo expressing “regret” over the incident to U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker in a telephone call on Saturday.
“Park also raised concerns about how scenes of a large number of Koreans being arrested were broadcast without filters by media outlets. Korean media, in accordance with the country’s libel laws, blur faces in photos and footage,” KJD added.
Another KJD report found some hard feelings among the South Korean populace toward their own government, which they saw as negligent for not taking care of the paperwork for the workers sent to the Hyundai Motor Group electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia.
The relatively new administration of leftist South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has yet to fill some important foreign service posts, including ambassador to the United States and consul general for the regional diplomatic office in Atlanta, Georgia.
Conversely, other South Koreans were miffed at their government for not challenging the ICE detentions more forcefully, possibly with lawsuits. Some wondered why less aggressive means were not found to deal with any legitimate issues surrounding the South Korean workers.
Reuters cited a poll on Tuesday that found “nearly 60% of South Koreans felt disappointed by what they viewed as excessive action by U.S. authorities in the raid, while about 30% regarded the action as unavoidable.”
“If it turns out that some of the individuals were engaged in activities consistent with their visa status, the enforcement could be deemed unlawful,” an unnamed “legal expert” told KJD.
Other commentators suggested Hyundai might have cut some corners in its eagerness to get workers into Georgia, bringing many of them into the United States with legitimate visas, but then giving them work assignments that were beyond the scope of those visas.
A lawyer for several of the detained workers told the Associated Press (AP) on Tuesday that his clients were “highly specialized” employees brought in for short-term assignments, essentially providing installation and technical support for delicate equipment.
The lawyer, Charles Kuck, said no company in the United States manufactures the equipment installed at the Georgia battery plant and it would have taken “three to five years” to train new American employees up to the necessary standards, so Hyundai felt it was more efficient to send highly trained technicians from South Korea.
Local organized labor leader Christi Hulme, president of the Savannah Regional Central Labor Council, countered that Hyundai and its partners at the battery plant were illegally using imported labor for basic construction tasks that could have been handled by local employees or contractors, such as pouring cement and fitting pipes.
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, addressing South Korean lawmakers before departing on a flight to Georgia, said the raid was a “very serious matter” that could hinder investment deals between the two countries.
“If U.S. authorities detain hundreds of Koreans in this manner, almost like a military operation, how can South Korean companies investing in the U.S. continue to invest properly in the future?” responded legislator Cho Jeongsik.
On the other hand, Reuters noted some South Korean legislators concede the detained workers might have “overstepped the boundaries” of their visa waiver program and some of the workers themselves had “misgivings” about their immigration documents.
South Korean businesses have long desired looser rules for sending skilled workers to the United States. Korean-American Association of Southeast Georgia president James Rim said changes to the law could be one result of the incident in Ellabell.
“It should have been done earlier but I think now is a good chance to give some kind of a special work permit to Koreans. Otherwise, it would be difficult to build factories only with a local workforce,” said Rim.
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