South Korean workers detained by ICE return home after saga that has rattled close US friendship

The workers arrived at Seoul’s international airport after departing from Atlanta. A small crowd awaited their arrival – with one member putting up a tall banner that depicted an ICE agent carrying a gun and chain, and wearing a mask of US President Donald Trump’s face. “We’re friends! Aren’t we?” the banner read.

Then came tearful reunions between the workers and their loved ones, who had anxiously awaited their return. One mother, who CNN is identifying only by her surname Park, said she hadn’t been able to reach her son at all after his detention.

“I’m grateful he came back healthy. My son has allergies, so that was a concern,” she told CNN on Friday. “Just thinking about him being handcuffed and shackled on his ankles is deeply traumatizing.”

 

Another mother, who CNN is not naming, said watching the videos of the ICE raid “made me feel so distressed.” She hopes one day it’ll be safe for her son to return overseas for work – “but for now, I don’t want to send him back to the US.”

It’s likely been a week of confusion and fear for the workers, who were chained up during the raid and held for days in detention.

But as they sat inside an ICE facility, the real maelstrom was happening outside – with South Korea’s top diplomat rushing to Washington to negotiate their release, while public fury swelled back home over what many see as a slap in the face from their longtime partner.

South Korea and the US have been staunch allies since the end of the Korean War in 1953 and have stepped up cooperation in recent years, drawing closer in a joint effort to combat Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific. South Korea is also home to the US military’s largest overseas base, which houses 41,000 people including troops and their families.

So images of skilled workers being handcuffed and shackled by ICE agents have outraged many in South Korea and raised questions over the economic partnership that had led these detained workers to the US in the first place – a partnership Trump himself has encouraged.

 

 

In August, a summit between Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung yielded promises of billions of dollars of investment into the US from major Korean conglomerates. It’s unclear whether those deals are part of an earlier tariff deal that outlined a $350 billion investment flow from Korea to the US.

Auto manufacturer Hyundai was part of that investment effort, with Hyundai’s chairman pledging a $20 billion investment in the US after meeting Trump in March (and raising it by another $5 billion after the Lee-Trump summit in August).

Given Trump’s personal involvement in seeking greater Korean investment, many were stunned when ICE raided the battery plant co-owned by Hyundai and LG in Georgia.

Immigration authorities claimed many had entered illegally or overstayed their visas, but lawyers for some of the detained workers insist their clients were legally working on the Georgia site, including on visa waivers that allow them to advise and consult.

Speaking to reporters at Incheon International Airport on Friday, South Korea’s foreign minister Cho Hyun said that most of the detainees had been on ESTA visas, however some had been on B1, B2 and L1 visas. Cho didn’t give any further specifics on the ESTA visas, which typically do not allow employment, however do allow for some work under specific business exceptions. B1, B2 and L1 visas do allow some work.

It’s also not clear whether these workers will be allowed back to continue working, what the future of Korean investment in the US may look like, or what will become of the Hyundai plant.

Cho this week urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to allow the workers to re-enter the US and continue working at a later point, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

US officials gave a noncommittal response – saying they “respected this position and would promptly move forward with the repatriation schedule,” the statement said.

Lee, the Korean president, took a stronger tone on Thursday. He warned that the situation was “very confusing” for Korean companies in the US, would lead businesses to question “whether they should go at all,” and could have “considerable impact on foreign direct investment in the US.”

Negotiations are ongoing about the possibility of creating new visa categories or increasing visa quotas for South Korean workers, he added.

Meanwhile in Georgia, the battery plant is facing a minimum startup delay of two to three months, Hyundai CEO Jose Munoz said on Thursday in his first public comments since the raid, according to Reuters.

 

The site is slated to be Hyundai’s first fully electrified vehicle and battery manufacturing campus in the US, a project state leaders promised would bring 8,500 jobs and transform the rural economy.

That promise now feels increasingly tenuous; few of the permanent employees have been hired yet, the complex is still under construction, and most of the workforce are transient staff on temporary visas or contracts – like the ones swept up by ICE.

In the Reuters report, Munoz said many of the detained workers were mainly employed by suppliers of LG, and that Hyundai will source batteries from other plants in the meantime.

But even if the plant slowly returns to life, the sense of betrayal in South Korea – and a new wariness among companies there to invest in the US – may linger far longer.