September 8, 2025 | 12:01 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Around 300 South Korean nationals, mostly Hyundai workers, detained during a recent US immigration raid will be repatriated on a chartered flight scheduled for Wednesday, September 10, a Seoul official said Sunday, as reported by Al Jazeera.
Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik announced that South Korea and the US had concluded negotiations over the release of the Hyundai-affiliated workers detained by US immigration authorities last Thursday. He said Seoul plans to send a chartered plane once final administrative steps are completed.
Cho Ki-joong, consul general at the South Korean Embassy in Washington, made the statement during a press briefing at the Folkston Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center in Georgia.
“(We) think that around Wednesday, (they may be able to board a plane),” Cho told reporters at the facility.
Diplomats from South Korea’s consulate in Atlanta have been visiting nationals held at the detention center to check their health and overall condition. Officials stressed Seoul is doing its utmost to ensure that those wishing to return home can do so “as promptly as possible.”
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun will travel to the United States on Monday, September 8, for talks on the release of the workers, according to local media reports citing ABC7 Chicago.
Largest Single-Site Immigration Raid in US History
The detainees were among 475 workers seized by US authorities during a raid at an unfinished Hyundai Motor Group–LG Energy Solution electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia.
ICE said those detained included about 300 South Koreans, many of whom were working illegally while on short-term or recreational visas.
US officials described the operation as “one of the largest single-site enforcement actions in the history of Homeland Security Investigations.”
On Friday, US President Donald Trump voiced support for ICE, calling those detained “illegal aliens.” A spokesperson said the raid was part of a broader months-long probe into labor practices at the site.
Footage released by ICE showed convoys of vehicles entering the plant, federal agents lining up workers outside, and detainees being searched and shackled at the wrists, ankles, and waist before being loaded onto buses.
Trump’s Hardline Immigration Policy
Since returning to office in January, President Trump has expanded ICE’s budget to record levels and granted the agency sweeping authority to conduct raids as part of a broader crackdown on immigrants and refugees.
According to Pew Research Center, citing preliminary census data, the US labor force lost more than 1.2 million immigrant workers between January and July.
Trump has pledged to deport what he calls the “worst of the worst criminals,” though ICE data shows an increase in the detention of non-criminal immigrants.
The raid underscores the risks of Trump’s hardline immigration stance for foreign investment. The $7.6 billion Hyundai–LG plant in Georgia is one of the largest foreign investments in the state.
Hyundai began producing EVs at the facility last year, while LG is building an adjacent battery plant set to open next year.
Most of those detained were taken to the Folkston detention center near the Florida border. No charges have yet been filed, said Steven Schrank, head of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia, adding that the probe is ongoing.
Diplomatic Tensions
Seoul, a close US ally, expressed “concern and regret” over the raid targeting its nationals and dispatched diplomats to the detention site.
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said President Lee Jae-myung has instructed officials to resolve the matter urgently, stressing that “the rights and interests of South Korean nationals, as well as the business operations of South Korean companies investing in the US, must not be violated,” Yonhap reported.
South Korea’s opposition People Power Party (PPP) strongly condemned the detentions, warning they posed a “serious risk” to the nation. Senior PPP spokesperson Park Sung-hoon accused President Lee of failing to protect citizens through his “pragmatic diplomacy” with Washington.
Park noted that the Lee administration recently pledged at least $50 billion in investments during a meeting with Trump, only to see South Koreans face “crackdowns” in return.
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