Hundreds of workers were arrested by masked agents Thursday at a massive Hyundai electric vehicle manufacturing plant in southeastern Georgia about 40 minutes west of Savannah.
“This in fact was the largest single site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security Investigations,” Steve Schrank, special-agent-in-charge of HSI for Georgia and Alabama told the media Friday morning.
The raid was carried out by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, HSI, and other federal agencies a week after Gov. Brian Kemp announced he’d be mobilizing the Georgia National Guard to support the president’s immigration crackdown.
No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the monthslong ongoing investigation into alleged illegal employment practices at the plant; however, Schrank said it is something he anticipates in the future.
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Federal authorities said a majority of the 475 individuals arrested were Korean nationals, but did not provide an exact number.
At the press conference in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, Schrank told reporters that some of the individuals arrested had crossed the border illegally, some had overstayed their visa, and others had entered on non-working visas.
In addition to producing Hyundai electric vehicles at the more than 2,000-acre manufacturing site, workers also produce EV batteries for a joint venture of Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution, two South Korea-based corporations.
“The economic activities of our companies investing in the U.S. and the rights and interests of our nationals must not be unfairly violated,” South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said in a press briefing reported on by Yonhap News Agency.
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The workers arrested at the Hyundai plant Thursday were taken to Folkston ICE processing center, pending transfer to other facilities based on individual circumstances. Earlier this summer, ICE awarded The GEO Group, a private prison corporation, a nearly $50 million contract to expand the Folkston facility from 1,100 to almost 3,000 beds.
The Democratic Party of Georgia condemned the raid as politically motivated and designed to terrorize Georgia’s immigrant communities.
“The Trump administration breaking its promise to target violent criminals and instead targeting hardworking people does nothing to make Georgia stronger — it is political grandstanding at the cost of Georgia families, businesses, and livelihoods,” Charlie Bailey, the group’s chairman, said in a statement.
Last week, dozens of Atlanta residents took to the streets outside the state Capitol to protest Kemp’s decision to deploy 75 National Guard soldiers to support ICE with administrative tasks related to immigration enforcement.
On Friday, Kemp also announced that he would be sending 300 National Guard soldiers to Washington, D.C., to support the Trump administration’s operations in the nation’s capital.
