The Hyundai-LG Manufacturing Plant Immigration Raid

September 16th, 2025
Jack Zhou

On September 4, an immigration raid conducted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was held on a construction site for an electric vehicle (EV) plant, sweeping up nearly 500 workers in southeast Georgia. The operation targeted foreign nationals, with US immigration authorities saying that the detained employees were working in the US illegally.

The factory was an electric vehicle battery plant owned by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solutions, two huge companies from South Korea. What the Trump administration refers to as the largest-ever Homeland Security enforcement operation also directly conflicts with Trump’s goal to expand domestic manufacturing, highlighting how deportations are at the top of his agenda.

Of the 475 detained people, over 300 are South Korean nationals, with the rest primarily of Latin American and Asian descent. The vast majority of these people were subcontractors hired solely to build the manufacturing site. Still, LG reports that 47 of their employees were arrested for overseeing the project, with the employees having arrived in the US with visas.

Because of the overwhelming majority of South Korean nationals, South Korea expressed alarm, with its ministry stating that “the economic activities of our investment companies and the rights and interests of our citizens must not be unjustly violated during U.S. law enforcement proceedings.” Furthermore, editorials in South Korea condemned the raid. On Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun traveled to the US to negotiate a deal over the detainees. This comes at an especially fragile time as the Trump administration continues to impose tariffs and visa restrictions on all countries, including South Korea. This recent move could also risk foreign investments from allies like South Korea, which is the United States’s 12th largest investor. Despite these tensions, South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, recently announced that a deal with the US was achieved and that a chartered plane would be sent to bring the nationals to South Korea if all administrative procedures are followed through upon.

The criticism of these raids has not just been confined to South Korea. In the United States, many are calling the round up of workers and chains and shackles merely “performative” as the Trump administration continues with their hard-on-immigration narrative. Immigration officials could have easily audited worker documents without a full on raid of the construction site. Furthermore, there has also been criticism of the US visa system. While authorities continue to claim that the detainees were “unlawfully working,” Charles Kuck, an attorney for several of the South Korean nationals, states that the “vast majority of the workers were authorized under visa programs. Overall, there has been criticism of not just the visa program that is disputed in these raids, but the need for visa reform across the United States. Over the coming weeks, lawmakers, investors, and diplomats alike will be watching the US to see if it clarifies its visa rules or doubles down on strict enforcement.