The Daily Populous Tuesday September 9th, 2025 night edition
Authored by cnn.com and submitted by Toadfinger

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If you drove into Ellabell, Georgia, on State Route 204 – past a few double-wides, a couple of churches and a Dollar General – you’d never guess a massive automobile complex sits just a few miles away.

The town is small, unincorporated and best known for canoeing on the Ogeechee River or teeing off at Black Creek Golf Club. Until last week, its biggest claim to fame was being chosen as the site of Hyundai’s first fully electrified vehicle and battery manufacturing campus in the United States, a project state leaders promised would bring 8,500 jobs and transform the rural economy.

The narrative cracked when, in the largest immigration raid of President Donald Trump’s second term, nearly 500 federal, state and local officers descended on the Hyundai–LG battery plant construction site and arrested 475 people.

Agents with Homeland Security Investigations said the majority were Korean nationals, though others were from different countries. Some, officials said, had crossed into the US unlawfully; others had overstayed visas; still others were on visa waivers allowing entry for tourism or business but do not permit employment.

As officers, masked and carrying rifles, fanned across the sprawling site, they ordered construction workers to line up against walls, demanded dates of birth and Social Security numbers and began sorting who would be cleared to leave and who would be loaded onto buses bound for the Folkston ICE Processing Center, more than 100 miles away.

Workers described the scene as a “war zone.” One hid in an air duct to avoid capture. Others tried to flee into a sewage pond; agents used a boat to fish them out and prosecutors later alleged one man tried to flip the vessel. By the end of the day, hundreds were gone. Construction at the 2,900-acre site stopped cold.

A photograph of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung is displayed in an issue of the Savannah Korean Times newspaper on Friday. Alyssa Pointer for CNN

In Ellabell and the surrounding towns of Lanier, Pembroke, Black Creek, Eden and Meldrim, the raid landed with less visible shock than in other communities swept up by immigration crackdowns.

It is partly because the Hyundai complex is still under construction. Few of the permanent employees expected to fill 8,500 slots have been hired, and the bulk of the current workforce is transient – single men on temporary visas or contracts, rotating through for months at a time. They are not yet the long-settled family men whose sudden absence, in other towns, has torn holes in the fabric of civic life.

The gap was clear in conversations along US 80 a few miles to the north.

At Ken’s IGA around 9:15 a.m., a grocery clerk acknowledged he’d heard something about a raid but had no idea what had happened. On Warnell Street, in a row of new townhouses, Hyundais sat in driveways next to Hondas. A housekeeper who popped outside kept answers short. At a contractor’s office belonging to Woohyun Eng Co. Ltd., next to a NAPA Auto Parts, supervisors confirmed they worked for Hyundai contractors and emphasized they and their men had papers. They declined further interviews.

The hesitance underscored how raids chill public conversation: People recognize what happened, but many would rather not discuss it at all.

The chilling effect was most obvious in local storefronts tailoring themselves to the labor force. At Viet Huong Supermarket in Ellabell – one of three Vietnamese groceries owned by 51-year-old Sammie Rentz – the regular flow of Korean customers plummeted almost overnight.

The fear had spread quickly after the raid: He saw crews walking along US 280 in yellow safety vests and said one of his customers came into the store “scraped up,” telling him he had jumped a fence to escape.

“You’re scared to go to work if that’s gonna happen to you,” he said.

Sammie Rentz, owner of Viet Huong Supermarket, is photographed inside his store in Ellabell on Friday. Rentz, who owns and operates three Viet Huong stores, opened the Ellabell location in March to serve the Korean community working at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America. Alyssa Pointer for CNN

Asian food items are displayed near American food products on the shelves at Viet Huong Supermarket in Ellabell on Friday. Alyssa Pointer for CNN

At the store, 90% of the Asian products sold are Korean, Rentz said. On Friday – the day following the massive raid – Rentz only had three Korean customers come into the store, compared with the usual 10 to 15.

“Without the Koreans, I’m not making any money,” he said.

He described the rhythms which had defined his business: groups of workers arriving in the mornings before work, standing outside smoking cigarettes and eating ice cream. Rentz said he had stocked up on frozen treats because of their habits.

On the Friday after the raid, he said, nobody showed up for ice cream in the morning.

“My workers told me … they hadn’t seen a Korean all day,” he said.

Now Rentz worries the slowdown will last: “The American stuff doesn’t sell,” he said.

Connections between the plant and surrounding communities are only in the early stages. But local Korean leaders stressed many of those caught in the sweep were skilled technicians who had helped stand up similar facilities in South Korea and elsewhere.

James Rim, president of the Korean American Association of Southeast Georgia, is a builder who has hosted such workers at Airbnbs. Many, he emphasized, are single men without children in the area, but they bring specialized expertise in machinery and factory systems hard to find in the US.

Rim suggested the government should distinguish between those with criminal records and those whose only violation is a visa overstay or mismatch, and consider letting the latter remain, pay taxes and potentially seek green cards.

“We just want … to make sure they are legally handled right,” he said, “To make sure they are respected.”

James Rim, president of the Korean American Association of Southeast Georgia, stands outside of Savannah First Korean Presbyterian Church in Bloomingdale, Georgia, on Saturday. Alyssa Pointer for CNN

South Korea’s government echoed those concerns.

Officials confirmed more than 300 of their citizens were among those detained. The foreign ministry said it had conveyed “concerns and regret” to Washington, dispatched diplomats to Georgia and warned the rights of Korean nationals investing in US projects must not be violated.

Following negotiations, the detained Korean workers will be returned to South Korea on a chartered flight, South Korean Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said Sunday. Kang said the government would “review and improve the visa system and stay status of people traveling to the US for investment projects.”

ICE officials revealed those taken into custody included not only undocumented workers and those with expired visas, but also at least one lawful permanent resident.

The individual was held because of alleged prior firearm and drug offenses, which ICE classified as crimes of “moral turpitude” which can jeopardize green card status, Lindsay Williams, a public affairs officer for the agency, told The Associated Press.

Williams denied reports US citizens had been detained, saying “once citizens have identified themselves, we have no authority.”

CNN has reached out to ICE for details about the lawful permanent resident’s arrest.

Among those detained were 23 Mexican nationals, according to the Mexican Consul General’s office in Atlanta. Most of those detained decided to sign voluntary releases to return to Mexico in the next few days, the office said.

‘Frustration and distress are very high’

Family members and friends struggled to find out where detainees had been taken.

“Since the raid, many family members both in Korea and here in Georgia have been trying to connect with their loved ones,” James Woo, communications director for Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Atlanta, told CNN. “Frustration and distress are very high, and despite guidance from different sources, families continue to struggle with communication and access.”

Woo added many of the workers’ families were still in South Korea, since a large portion of those working at the site were in the United States only for business purposes.

By Saturday, the anger spilled into the open.

Angel Cordova leads a chant during a protest outside of the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Ellabell on Saturday. Alyssa Pointer for CNN

On a blistering 90-degree day, dozens of protesters gathered outside the Hyundai megasite with signs in English and Korean. People drove in from out of town to protest what they called government overreach, a striking contrast to the muted response from Ellabell residents themselves.

One speaker with a megaphone called the arrests “a direct attack on the entire working class,” linking them to Trump’s tariffs on Korea.

Another speaker vowed, “We’re gonna keep making noise … stand with the Hyundai workers, stand with the 475 people who were brutally kidnapped by ICE.” Signs read “Hands off Hyundai,” “Money for health and education. Not for racist deportation” and “The people will defeat Trump’s billionaire agenda.”

One protester, who gave his name only as Kim, told CNN: “On Thursday, 500 workers from the factory behind me were kidnapped by ICE … that is about half of them.”

Kim stands for a portrait following his speech during a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside of the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America on Saturday. Alyssa Pointer for CNN

“These people have families and loved ones and they have no contact with them,” he said.

Kim described the system as “disgusting, racist,” saying immigrants “hold up this country,” from cars to food to everyday life.

“They are attacking the immigrants to attack the entirety of the working class in America. They’re trying to scare us,” he said.

Kim called for the detained workers to be returned home and for an end to mass deportations, urging the American working class to “stand together shoulder to shoulder in solidarity and fight for our rights.”

In previous raids – in Postville, Iowa, in 2008 or at Mississippi poultry plants in 2019 – entire towns were shaken because detainees were parents, neighbors and longtime residents.

Schools saw classrooms empty overnight. Churches lost congregants. Families were separated.

Here, the workforce is more temporary – with workers often leaving spouses and kids abroad – so the shock lands differently.

In Ellabell, the disruption feels different: quieter on the surface, but sharply felt by those who built businesses around the migrant workforce and by residents uneasy about the megaproject reshaping their town.

An electronic billboard along Interstate 16 displays an advertisement for the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Ellabell on Friday. Alyssa Pointer for CNN

Rentz said his grocery store quickly became a flashpoint, with some locals resenting how it catered to the new wave of workers. Some residents, he said, would even walk in, hurl insults and storm out.

“They hate this store,” he said of some residents who walk in to see shelves stocked with Asian food items displayed near American food products.

For now, the $4.3 billion Hyundai–LG project remains frozen. Hyundai insists none of the detained were direct employees and has tasked its North America chief manufacturing officer, Chris Susock, with investigating contractors’ practices. LG Energy Solution suspended most of its US business trips and sent its chief human resources officer from South Korea to Georgia to call for the “prompt release” of workers.

Federal officials insist their probe targeted “unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes.” No charges have been announced against the companies.

The promise of 8,500 jobs still hangs over Bryan County but the raid exposed how tenuous the promise is – built on layers of subcontractors, visa-restricted technicians and a community which has not yet integrated the project into its daily life.

In Ellabell, where golf courses and canoe outposts define the local economy, the megasite looms both as a beacon of opportunity and a source of tension. The question now is not just when construction resumes but whether the bridge between the plant and the community can be built on steadier ground.

letsburn00 on September 8th, 2025 at 12:47 UTC »

People assume that the wealthy will never let the entire nation which gives them power to collapse by doing insanely stupid shit that hurts the nation. Look up the French revolution. The richest 5% were basically immune from all taxes, the entire economy was owned by them and when you got rich enough you paid a fee, were enobled and you didn't have to pay tax anymore.

The government basically couldn't operate and were bankrupt. The government and nobility spent all their time fucking around and it wasn't until it was all over that they remotely tried to do anything. They ended up getting their heads chopped off.

thepartypantser on September 8th, 2025 at 11:55 UTC »

I don't think Trump could do a better job at stifling manufacturing in the US.

Between the randomness of the constantly changing unpredictable tariff situation, and the aggressive but inconsistent enforcement like this, This is going to destroy any sort of desire for international businesses to grow their manufacturing in the United States.

You couldn't write a better plan to destroy American manufacturing than the current one the Trump administration is pursuing.

Well_Dressed_Kobold on September 8th, 2025 at 11:45 UTC »

This is like watching a blind, drunk caveman, trying to land a plane.