Immigration officials arrested nearly 500 workers, most of them South Korean citizens, at the construction site of an electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia on Thursday, as the Trump administration continues its far-ranging crackdown on illegal immigration.<\/p>\n
The raid<\/a>, which U.S. officials have called the largest-ever Homeland Security enforcement operation at a single location, stirred tensions with the South Korean government, a valued trade partner of the United States. It also revealed competing interests<\/a> within the Trump administration between the president\u2019s push to expand manufacturing in the United States and his aggressive efforts to crack down on immigration. The plant at the center of the operation was co-owned by the South Korean carmaker Hyundai.<\/p>\n U.S. immigration authorities said the detained employees \u2014 many of them hired by subcontractors to help finish the plant\u2019s construction \u2014 were working or living in the United States illegally.<\/p>\n On Sunday, government officials in South Korea said they had reached an agreement<\/a> with the United States for the Korean workers to be freed and flown back to their home country. South Korea\u2019s foreign minister, Cho Hyun, left Seoul on Monday to travel to Washington to help secure the release of the workers.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we know about the raid and its fallout:<\/p>\n Where did it happen?<\/p>\n The raid targeted an electric vehicle battery plant still under construction in Ellabell, Ga., near Savannah. The plant is owned by two companies: Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution, both titans in South Korean industry.<\/p>\n Immigration officials descended on the plant on Thursday, arresting hundreds who were allegedly living or working in the United States illegally. The operation was the product of a monthslong investigation, officials said.<\/p>\n As of Thursday night, most of the detained workers were being held at the Folkston detention facility in southern Georgia.<\/p>\n The unfinished battery plant represented the kind of strategic investment the United States has welcomed from South Korea in recent years \u2014 one that promised to create manufacturing jobs and build up a growing industry.<\/p>\n Georgia has eagerly sought investment by South Korean businesses, with Gov. Brian Kemp visiting the country twice since taking office. Korean companies have invested in plants making batteries, semiconductor materials and solar panels, as well as a large-scale bakery and food distribution center. But the state has also enthusiastically embraced the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown. The Georgia State Patrol and the Georgia National Guard have both worked closely with federal immigration enforcement agents, and the State Patrol was involved in Thursday\u2019s raid.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Georgia, we will always enforce the law, including all state and federal immigration laws,\u201d the governor\u2019s office said in a statement. \u201cAll companies operating within the state must follow the laws of Georgia and our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Who was arrested?<\/p>\n The raid swept up 475 people, most of them South Korean citizens, agents said.<\/p>\n No Hyundai employees were arrested, the carmaker said. LG Energy Solution, the battery manufacturer, said 47 of its employees were detained.<\/p>\n A majority of the arrested South Korean workers were not direct employees of Hyundai or LG but were subcontractors, according to industry officials familiar with the project. The LG employees arrested were helping oversee the factory\u2019s construction, and had arrived in the United States with visas or under a visa waiver program, the officials said.<\/p>\n It was not clear how many of those detained by ICE last week were building the plant and how many were workers brought in to install and calibrate specialized equipment, or to train the local work force.<\/p>\n Steven Schrank, a special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Georgia, said during a news conference that some U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents were also detained in the raid and would be released.<\/p>\n The investigation has not yet yielded criminal charges.<\/p>\n How did South Korea respond?<\/p>\n Before the agreement on Sunday to release the workers, South Korea expressed alarm<\/a> at Thursday\u2019s raid, with top government officials assembling for an emergency meeting. A spokesman for the country\u2019s Foreign Ministry told reporters at a news conference on Friday that South Korean embassy and consular officials based in Atlanta and Washington were dispatched to the plant.<\/p>\n \u201cThe economic activities of our investment companies and the rights and interests of our citizens must not be unjustly violated during U.S. law enforcement proceedings,\u201d the ministry said in a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n Editorials published in major South Korean newspapers criticized the raid, which came at a fraught time in U.S.-South Korean relations. The Trump administration has sought greater investments from the longtime ally while simultaneously imposing tariffs and visa restrictions on the country that have made those ventures more costly for South Korean companies.<\/p>\n In late July, both nations agreed to a deal<\/a> that would levy 15 percent tariffs on most South Korean exports to the United States, down from a rate of 25 percent that Mr. Trump had threatened months earlier. But officials from the two countries are still hammering out the minutiae of that agreement.<\/p>\n