Hundreds of South Korean auto industry workers left the United States on Friday following a raid by US immigration authorities at the Hyundai plant. More than 475 South Korean workers were detained by the US ICE agents at the Hyundai-LG battery plant under construction in Georgia.
The raids prompted severe responses from the South Korean authorities over what they termed as an unfair detention of their citizens in the US. However, authorities in the United States responded, saying these were illegal aliens, the majority of whom had either violated the work permit or overstayed their visas.
On Friday, a specially chartered Korean Air Boeing 747-81 carrying 316 South Koreans and 14 foreign employees departed from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Seoul's foreign ministry said. An official from South Korean authorities said, "Everything at Atlanta went smoothly. The plane departed as scheduled with the planned number of passengers."
The Georgia crackdown raid was one of the single largest operations conducted by the US immigration authorities since President Trump announced the measure to deport all the illegal aliens from the country.
US experts have said that the majority of the detained workers were staying on visas that do not permit manufacturing or construction work.
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President Lee Jae Myung called the raid "bewildering" and noted it could have a chilling effect on future investment. He said his team of representatives were negotiating with Washington "to ensure that visa issuance for investment-related purposes operates normally".
These raids came less than a month after Donald Trump welcomed Lee to the White House. The auto plant, which was raided by the authorities, accounts for more than a $4.3 billion venture to build a battery cell manufacturing facility in Georgia.
It's part of the norm of South Korean companies to bring along highly skilled workers to foreign countries. LG said it remained committed to its US projects, adding that it was also working to minimise "any business impact resulting from this incident".
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