Koreans shackled in U.S. raid set for charter flight

“While we were working on equipment, immigration officers suddenly stormed into the factory. We were dragged into the corridor without being allowed to gather our belongings. Hundreds of us were lined up in five rows like elementary school students and told to follow the agents’ instructions. Those taken to detention were put in chains.”

On Sept. 6 local time in Savannah, Georgia, several plant employees described the fear they felt during a sweeping immigration raid two days earlier at the Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution joint battery plant, HL-GA. Unlike more than 300 Koreans who were taken to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Folkston, about two hours from the plant, these employees were released after showing U.S. citizenship or valid visas such as E-2.

They said ICE agents, using helicopters and armored vehicles, searched rooftops and shipping containers as if hunting civilians, rounding up workers indiscriminately. Some Hispanic laborers, fearing capture, jumped into a pond on the plant grounds.

“The first question agents asked workers in the corridor was, ‘U.S. citizen or visa?’” one employee said. “If you said citizen, you went to the right. If you had a visa, you were sent to the other side, then sorted again by visa type—ESTA, B-1, B-2, E-2—and subjected to identification checks for four to five hours.” Those unable to prove lawful status had red wristbands placed on them and were monitored by immigration officers even when they went to the bathroom. They were then shackled hand and foot and loaded into transport vehicles without knowing where they were headed, eventually being moved to the Folkston detention center. Among them were reportedly women in early pregnancy.

“When we went back to the factory the next day, dozens of bags left behind by their owners were scattered everywhere,” employees said. “The remaining workers checked each name tag and grouped the bags by company, but every time we looked, we felt a deep sense of devastation.”

Meanwhile, Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said on Sept. 7 that President Lee Jae-myung ordered an all-out response to resolve the matter swiftly. On Sept. 6, Lee also instructed officials to “make every effort to ensure that the rights and interests of our citizens are not violated and that the situation is restored as soon as possible.”


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