US-South Korea tensions rise after ICE raid on Hyundai factory detains hundreds of workers

A raid by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) teams on a Hyundai battery factory construction site has caused tension between the US and South Korea.

ICE detained 475 workers in its raid on the factory in Georgia. Although they stated they were looking for 4 Hispanic workers, the teams also apprehended numerous Korean workers.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said on Thursday that South Korean companies would be hesitant to continue direct investments or make new ones in the US if the visa system for Korean workers is not improved.

Speaking at a press conference celebrating his 100th day in office, Lee called for improvements to the US visa system while addressing the immigration raid that led to the arrest of more than 300 South Korean workers.

Lee said that following discussions with the US, the Korean workers would be returned to their country on a charter flight on Friday, September 12.

Lee stated that South Korean and US officials were discussing potential improvements to the US visa system, adding that under the current framework, South Korean companies “could not help but hesitate greatly” when considering direct investments in the US.

US officials said some of the detained workers had crossed the US border illegally, while others had entered legally but their visas had expired or they had entered under a visa waiver that prohibits work.

However, South Korean experts and officials stated that while Washington is pressuring South Korea to expand its industrial investments in the US, it has not yet responded to Seoul’s long-standing request for a visa system that accommodates skilled Korean workers.

South Korean companies rely on short-term visitor visas or the Electronic System for Travel Authorization to send the workers they need to establish production facilities and perform other installation tasks, a practice that has been largely tolerated for years.

Lee said that the US establishing a visa system allowing South Korean companies to send skilled workers to industrial facilities would have a “major impact” on South Korea’s future investments in the US.

Lee stated, “These are not long-term workers. When you build a facility or install equipment in a factory, you need technicians, but the US does not have this workforce, and yet they do not issue visas that would allow our employees to stay and do this work.”

On the other hand, according to South Korean officials, Donald Trump halted the deportation of hundreds of South Korean workers arrested during the immigration raid and suggested they stay “to train Americans.”

South Korean diplomats stated at a press conference in Washington that President Trump told officials to “encourage” the workers detained at the Hyundai-LG battery factory in Georgia to stay in the country.

A South Korean official said the US president “emphasized that the detained Korean citizens are skilled workers and suggested that, depending on Seoul’s stance, they either stay in the US to contribute to training the American workforce or be sent back to Korea.”

The official said that “most of the detainees were tired and in shock, and [South Korean Foreign Minister Cho] Hyun suggested they first return to Korea and then be allowed to return to work if necessary.”

The charter flight is expected to depart from Atlanta this afternoon. According to South Korea’s state news agency, Yonhap, 330 of the workers to be transferred to Seoul (316 Koreans, 10 Chinese, 3 Japanese, and 1 Indonesian) chose to board the plane, while 1 South Korean opted to remain in the US.

Wednesday’s briefing was held after a meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Cho from South Korea. After his meeting with Rubio, Cho told reporters that the two countries had agreed the workers would not be handcuffed while being transported to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and that Seoul had “received assurances they would not face any problems re-entering the US to work in the future.”

Cho added that he and Rubio agreed to establish a working group to explore creating a work visa program for South Korean citizens. A South Korean foreign ministry official told reporters that the decision not to physically restrain the detainees during their transfer to the airport reflected the “deep bond” established between Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung at a summit held in Washington last month.

Korean companies are investing tens of billions of dollars to build advanced manufacturing facilities in the US for chip, battery, and electric vehicle production, with a large portion of these investments being made in Republican-majority states in the south and southeast.