The Daily Populous Sunday September 7th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by nbcnews.com and submitted by NewSlinger

South Korean workers detained during a massive immigration raid on a Hyundai facility in Georgia will be returned to South Korea on a chartered flight, President Lee Jae-myung’s office said Sunday.

Federal and immigration agents arrested 475 people on Thursday — mostly South Korean nationals — while executing a judicial search warrant as part of a criminal investigation into alleged unlawful employment at the facility.

“Negotiations for the release of the detained workers have been concluded,” a presidential spokesperson announced Sunday. “Once the procedures are complete, the chartered plane will depart to bring our citizens.”

The spokesperson added that South Korea will “push forward measures to review and improve the residency status and visa system for personnel travelling to the United States.”

The incident had strained ties with South Korea, the world’s 10th-largest economy and the key U.S. ally.

U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment.

The U.S. raid, part of the Trump administration’s escalating crackdown on immigrants, was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security.

A sea of agents from HSI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies showed up Thursday to the site in the town of Ellabell where Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, a battery company based in Seoul, are jointly building a plant next to the manufacturing facility for electric vehicles.

LG Energy Solution said Saturday that 47 of its employees were detained, 46 of them Korean. Another 250 personnel from “equipment partner companies,” most of them Korean, were also being held, it added.

The raid came just 11 days after a summit between Trump and Lee at the White House, where South Korean firms pledged $150 billion in U.S. investments. In July, Seoul pledged another $350 billion in U.S. projects in an effort to reduce Trump’s threatened tariffs, which he later set at 15%.

culb77 on September 7th, 2025 at 12:25 UTC »

For those not reading the article or keeping up with the full story:

This is an EV plant that is being built. Hyundai and LG had arranged for specialty technicians to come in and consult on the building of the plant. They claimed that the US does not have The number of trained workers in order to consult on the construction of the facility.

The workers were not direct hires from Hyundai or LG brought in by consulting firms. They were brought in on Visas that allowed them to be here. It appears that some of these Visas have expired, but others appear to be very valid.

Also of note: These are not just construction workers. Many of these are engineers and consultants who have experience in the construction of an EV facility. Not exactly the easiest job to replace. This will delay the actual plant from opening and delay US citizens from getting a full-time job.

ganymede_boy on September 7th, 2025 at 11:40 UTC »

Trump: "We're going after the worst of the worst, most dangerous criminals... murderers, rapists and child predators."

Pictured: Line workers and middle management types with full time jobs and no criminal records.

ofWildPlaces on September 7th, 2025 at 11:30 UTC »

Honestly wondering what the mood in the room is amongst the plant managers is- 450 trained and experienced employees is no small number. Where will the factory find replacements? These people weren't laid off for cost cutting or automation, they were arrested and removed. Those are empty spaces now in assembly.