SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Some 475 individuals had been detained throughout an immigration raid at a sprawling Georgia website the place South Korean auto firm Hyundai manufactures electrical automobiles, based on a Homeland Safety official.
Steven Schrank, Particular Agent in Cost, Homeland Safety Investigations, mentioned at a information briefing Friday that almost all of the individuals detained had been from South Korea.
“This operation underscores our dedication to jobs for Georgians and People,” Schrank mentioned.
South Korean Overseas Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong described the variety of detained South Koreans as “giant” although he didn’t present a precise determine.
He mentioned the detained employees had been a part of a “community of subcontractors,” and that the staff labored for quite a lot of completely different corporations on the positioning.
Thursday’s raid focused considered one of Georgia’s largest and most high-profile manufacturing websites, touted by the governor and different officers as the most important financial improvement venture within the state’s historical past. Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea’s largest automaker, started manufacturing EVs a yr in the past on the $7.6 billion plant, which employs about 1,200 individuals, and has partnered with LG Vitality Resolution to construct an adjoining battery plant, slated to open subsequent yr.
In an announcement to The Related Press, LG mentioned it was “intently monitoring the state of affairs and gathering all related particulars.” It mentioned it couldn’t instantly verify what number of of its workers or Hyundai employees had been detained.
“Our high precedence is at all times guaranteeing the security and well-being of our workers and companions. We’ll totally cooperate with the related authorities,” the corporate mentioned.
Hyundai’s South Korean workplace didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
ICE spokesman Lindsay Williams confirmed that federal authorities performed an enforcement operation on the 3,000-acre (1,214-hectare) website west of Savannah, Georgia. He mentioned brokers had been targeted on the development website for the battery plant.
In a televised assertion, Lee mentioned the ministry is taking energetic measures to handle the case, dispatching diplomats from its embassy in Washington and consulate in Atlanta to the positioning, and planning to kind an on-site response staff centered on the native mission.
“The enterprise actions of our buyers and the rights of our nationals should not be unjustly infringed within the technique of U.S. regulation enforcement,” Lee mentioned.
The Division of Homeland Safety mentioned in an announcement that brokers executed a search warrant “as a part of an ongoing prison investigation into allegations of illegal employment practices and different critical federal crimes.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has undertaken sweeping ICE operations as a part of a mass deportation agenda. Immigration officers have raided farms, building websites, eating places and auto restore retailers.
The Pew Analysis Heart, citing preliminary Census Bureau information, says the U.S. labor power misplaced greater than 1.2 million immigrants from January by July. That features people who find themselves within the nation illegally in addition to authorized residents.
Bynum reported from Savannah.
