South Korean Workers Detained in Georgia to Be Freed After U.S. Immigration Raid

TDT | Manama

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Seoul announced on Sunday that negotiations with the United States have been successfully concluded to secure the release of South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid. The workers are expected to be flown home soon.

The arrests took place on Thursday at a Hyundai-LG battery plant under construction in Ellabell, Georgia, where more than 300 workers were detained. The raid was the largest single-site immigration operation under U.S. President Donald Trump’s nationwide anti-migrant campaign, surprising South Korean officials.

Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff to President Lee Jae Myung, said, “As a result of the swift and united response, negotiations for the release of the detained workers have been concluded. Only administrative procedures remain. Once these are completed, a chartered flight will bring our citizens home.”

Footage released by U.S. authorities showed workers in handcuffs and with ankle chains being loaded onto an inmate transport bus.

In response to the situation, Kim Ki-soo, a senior executive at LG Energy Solution, flew to Georgia on Sunday to help secure the workers’ release. “Our immediate priority is the swift release of both LG Energy Solution employees and those of our partner firms,” he told reporters before departure.

LG Energy Solution reported that 47 of its employees were arrested—46 South Koreans and one Indonesian. About 250 of the detainees were employees of contractor firms, most of them South Koreans.

A source from one of LG’s partner firms told Yonhap News Agency that conditions in the detention center were poor. “They are given food and allowed to shower, but the conditions are substandard,” the official said, adding that the workers were not handcuffed while in the facility.