475 workers detained: Georgia advocates revisit ICE raid that shook two nations
SAVANNAH, Ga. —
Forty-eight yellow hard hats lined Savannah’s Emmet Park Friday, each representing roughly 10 workers detained one year ago during a federal immigration raid at a Hyundai-LG battery plant construction site in Ellabell.
Local immigrant-rights groups gathered downtown to mark the anniversary.
Advocates say many of the workers affected by the raid are still dealing with its financial and legal consequences.
“To this day, many haven’t recovered financially. They still have a legal process to follow,” said Jenny Miron of Migrant Equity Southeast.
On Sept. 4, 2025, hundreds of federal agents descended on the battery plant site, part of Hyundai Motor Group’s sprawling Megasite campus west of Savannah.
By the end of the operation, 475 people had been detained, most of them South Korean nationals. Homeland Security Investigations called it the largest single-site enforcement operation in the agency’s history.
The raid quickly drew international attention, straining relations between the United States and South Korea. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned that the incident could make Korean companies hesitant to invest in the United States.
The fallout also reached Georgia’s economic development efforts. Gov. Brian Kemp later traveled to South Korea for a trip that had been planned before the raid but took on added significance after concerns from Korean companies and investors.
President Donald Trump initially defended the immigration enforcement action. But in October, he said he opposed the raid.
“I was very much opposed. Look, when they come in and they’re making very complex machinery, equipment, things, they’re going to have to bring some people in at least at the initial phase,” said Trump in October 2025.
The raid put coastal Georgia at the center of the national immigration debate and raised questions about how the United States handles foreign workers brought in to help build major manufacturing projects.
At Friday’s gathering, speakers also argued conditions for immigrant workers have only worsened over the past year.
For advocates gathered in Savannah, the anniversary was a reminder that the impacts of the raid extend well beyond the construction site. They say the fight for stronger protections for immigrant workers — and for changes to policy — is far from over.