WASHINGTON: More than 300 South Koreans were among 475 people arrested by US immigration officials in a raid on a Hyundai-LG battery plant being built in the southern US state of Georgia, the foreign minister in Seoul said on Saturday (Sep 6).
Steven Schrank, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent in Atlanta, earlier said Thursday’s operation was the largest single site raid carried out so far under US President Donald Trump’s nationwide anti-migrant drive.
The raid stemmed from a “criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and serious federal crimes” at the Hyundai Motor-LG Energy Solution joint venture plant in the town of Ellabell, Schrank told reporters on Friday.
“This was not an immigration operation where agents went into the premises, rounded up folks and put them on buses,” he said. “This has been a multi-month criminal investigation.”
Foreign minister Cho Hyun said at an emergency meeting in Seoul that of the 475 arrested, “more than 300 are believed to be our nationals”.
“We are deeply concerned and feel a heavy sense of responsibility over this matter,” Cho said, adding that he would go to the United States for talks in Washington if necessary.
Schrank said on Friday that those arrested were “illegally present in the United States” and “working unlawfully”.
He said those taken into custody have been turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for potential removal.
Trump, asked about the raid by reporters at the White House, said: “I would say that they were illegal aliens, and ICE was just doing its job.”
South Korea had already urged Washington to respect the rights of its citizens before Cho’s comments on Saturday.
“The economic activities of our investors and the legitimate rights and interests of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed in the course of US law enforcement,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said on Friday.
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