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| ▲ This photo, captured from a video clip from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), shows people arrested during an immigration raid on an electric vehicle battery plant construction site, operated by South Korean companies, Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution Ltd., on Sept. 4, 2025, (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) US crackdown-Koreans
(LEAD) Consular officials begin meeting S. Koreans detained in U.S. immigration crackdown
(ATTN: ADDS more info in paras 6-11)
By Song Sang-ho and Lee Yu-mi
FOLKSTON/WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) -- Consular officials on Saturday started meeting South Korean nationals detained in a recent U.S. immigration crackdown at an electric vehicle battery plant construction site in Georgia, checking their health and other conditions, according to Seoul officials.
The officials from South Korea's Consulate General in Atlanta had consultations with them at an immigration detention center in Folkston, after U.S. immigration authorities arrested them during Thursday's raid in the site operated by South Korean companies, Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution Ltd., in Bryan County.
During the raid, 475 people were arrested. Of them, more than 300 are South Koreans. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said that they were found to be working illegally in the United States, including those on short-term or recreational visas that prohibit them from working.
"During the consultations, consuls are basically checking if there are any humanitarian issues or inconveniences, and asking the U.S. side to ensure that those issues won't arise," said an official from the South Korean government's on-site support team.
The on-site team is currently led by Cho Ki-joong, consul general at the Korean Embassy in Washington. The team focuses on ensuring that the detained Koreans will be set free as soon as possible amid concerns that the investigation process could be prolonged.
Later in the day, Cho visited officials at the Folkston ICE Processing Center.
"I asked them to care about our citizens as much as they can to ensure that they do not experience inconveniences while at the center," Cho told reporters after meeting the officials.
He added that consular staff were not able to meet all of the Koreans at the center and their consultations will resume on Sunday morning.
"We are trying to find out about whether all of them have any big issue while staying there," he said. "Consuls have looked into the facility, and those that they have talked to were found to be in good shape."
Asked when he expects them to be released, Cho said, "There isn't anything we can talk about at this point."
Those at the Folkston center will be moved based on their individual circumstances, according to U.S. officials.
U.S. officials cast Thursday's raid as "the largest single site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security Investigations." U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his support Friday for the ICE operation, describing those detained as "illegal aliens."
ICE unveiled a short video clip of the raid into the Korean plant site, showing Korean and other workers being screened, shackled with handcuffs and metal chains, and loaded onto an "inmate transport" vehicle.
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