Korean Workers Detained in the 'Georgia Incident' Released After Seven Days
On September 11 (local time), a bus carrying Korean workers who had been working at the Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution joint battery plant construction site in Ellabell, Georgia, departed from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Folkston and headed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. This release came a week after they were detained by U.S. federal agents who raided the site on September 4.
According to Eastern U.S. local time, at around 2:16 a.m. (3:16 p.m. KST on September 11), those who had been detained at the ICE facility boarded eight regular buses and departed for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where a Korean Air chartered flight was waiting. The Korean nationals, who had just exited the facility gates, boarded the buses waiting in front of the entrance in regular clothes, without handcuffs or other restraints.
The chartered flight is scheduled to depart Atlanta International Airport at noon local time on September 11 (1:00 a.m. KST on September 12) and arrive at Incheon Airport in the afternoon of September 12, Korean time. A total of 330 people who had been detained by U.S. immigration authorities will be on board: 316 Koreans and 14 foreign nationals (10 Chinese, 3 Japanese, and 1 Indonesian). According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, one Korean detainee expressed a wish to remain in the United States.
According to operation footage released by ICE and reports from U.S. media on September 4, authorities even deployed helicopters to raid the work site, checked the employees' immigration status, lined up most of the workers around the buses, and chained their legs and hands before loading them onto the buses one by one. Those arrested were transported to the ICE detention facility in Folkston, Georgia.
One worker at the scene told CNN that U.S. authorities stormed in "as if it were a battlefield." A Korean employee who was not detained because they had a valid visa told the BBC that "phones rang simultaneously and a message was sent to stop work," and that the detained colleagues were taken away without even being able to grab their phones.
The Atlanta office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) posted on X (formerly Twitter) on the day of the incident, stating that, together with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), ICE, and the Georgia State Patrol, they "conducted a large-scale immigration enforcement operation" at the Hyundai battery plant construction site. The next day, HSI announced that it had executed a court search warrant as part of an ongoing investigation into illegal employment practices and serious federal crimes, and that 475 people were arrested at the site.
The Korean government immediately convened an emergency response meeting to address the situation, and locally, a consul from the Consulate General in Atlanta began interviewing the approximately 300 detained Koreans at the ICE facility starting on the morning of September 6, the third day after the incident.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs established an on-site response team led by Consul General Cho Kijung in Washington and began responding on the ground in earnest. Subsequently, on September 7 (KST), Kang Hoonshik, Chief Presidential Secretary, announced that negotiations for the release of the detainees had taken place with the United States and that a chartered flight would depart to bring them back to Korea as soon as administrative procedures were completed.
On September 7 (U.S. time), Consul General Cho Kijung told reporters at the ICE detention facility in Folkston that he expected the Korean workers to return home "around Wednesday (the 10th)." On the same day, U.S. President Donald Trump commented on the situation, saying, "We have a very good relationship with Korea," and added, "If there is no one in this country who knows about batteries, we should help by bringing in some people so that our workforce can be trained to handle complex tasks, whether in battery manufacturing, computer manufacturing, or shipbuilding."
The Korean Air chartered flight to repatriate the Korean workers took off from Incheon Airport at 10:21 a.m. KST on September 10, and their return flight was scheduled to depart the United States at around 2:30 p.m. on September 10 (3:30 a.m. KST on September 11).
However, on the afternoon of September 10 (KST), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that "due to circumstances on the U.S. side, the departure of our citizens detained in Georgia on the 10th local time has become difficult." This raised concerns that there may have been issues during negotiations with the United States.
On September 10 (U.S. time), Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun met with Korean reporters at the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., and stated, "Our citizens, who are currently detained, will be able to board the chartered flight and return home tomorrow (the 11th), and I have reconfirmed that there will be no use of handcuffs during this process." Minister Cho also reported that he had held a 20-minute meeting with U.S. Secretary of State and White House National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, and had completed related discussions with Andy Baker, White House Deputy National Security Advisor and Vice President's Security Advisor.
President Lee Jaemyung, at a press conference marking his 100th day in office on September 11 (KST), stated regarding the release and return schedule of the Korean workers, "They are scheduled to depart the detention facility at 3:00 p.m. KST, and the flight will take off at around 1:00 a.m. tomorrow and arrive in Seoul in the afternoon."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
