Hundreds Arrested in Immigration Raid at Hyundai Site in Georgia

Now it is where two of Trump’s key policies—cracking down on illegal immigration and rebuilding U.S. manufacturing—have unexpectedly collided.

Those arrested had illegally crossed the border, entered through a visa waiver program that prohibited them from working, or had overstayed their visas, said Steven Schrank, a special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, at a news conference in Atlanta.

According to the search warrant, unsealed on Friday, the initial targets were four Hispanic workers.

The investigation remains ongoing; no criminal charges have been filed as of Friday, he added.

“Those who exploit our workforce, undermine our economy, and violate our federal laws will be held accountable,” said Schrank, calling it a monthslong investigation.

The raid rattled South Korea, a close Washington ally and top trading partner. Seoul-based Hyundai, whose U.S. sales have hit record monthly highs for nearly a year straight, has pledged $26 billion in fresh American investments since Trump took office earlier this year—including $5 billion after South Korea’s leader visited the White House early last week.

Of the detained, more than 300 of the arrested individuals were South Korean nationals, according to an official from the country. 

South Korea protested the action to the U.S. and said it was trying to secure the release of its citizens. Seoul wasn’t given advance notice of the raid by Washington, a South Korean official said. Hyundai said none of the detained were directly employed by the firm. LG Energy said it was cooperating with authorities.

Asked about the raid, Trump said that the people arrested were immigrants who entered the country illegally. “We had as I understand it a lot of illegal aliens,” he said. “Some not the best of people. But we had a lot of illegal aliens working there.”

Trump has often vowed to restore U.S. manufacturing in everything from semiconductors to automobiles to battleships. His global trade war has pressured allies—including South Korea, though also Japan and the European Union—to promise mega investments in the U.S. and American energy in exchange for tariff reductions.

The EU has pledged $600 billion in American investment, while Japan has promised $550 billion. South Korea said it would commit $350 billion, though precise details of how, where or even when that spending would occur remain largely unclear—a key roadblock in the current tariff negotiations with the EU, South Korea and Japan.

Before Thursday’s raid, U.S. law enforcement had developed evidence, conducted interviews and gathered documents. The search warrant had been granted Aug. 31, just days after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung visited Trump in the Oval Office, where the two praised each other and spoke of deeper collaboration.

“This was not an immigration operation where agents went into the premises, rounded up folks and put them on buses,” Schrank said. 

Trump wants the U.S. to remain “the best place in the world to do business,” while upholding federal immigration laws, a White House spokeswoman said. 

Going to Georgia

Investigators are continuing to look at which company employed each of the individuals, Schrank said, but he noted that a network of subcontractors worked at the site. 

The factory is located in the town of Ellabell, not far from the Savannah port. The plant, once completed, is set to supply batteries to Hyundai Motor’s nearby EV manufacturing plant, which opened last year. Hyundai has pledged to employ 8,500 people there by 2031 as part of a $2 billion incentive package it received from Georgia.

Among those detained at the factory were South Korean employees of LG Energy Solution who were traveling for business. Hyundai Motor said it believed that it didn’t directly employ any of those detained. LG Energy said Friday it was cooperating with the South Korean government and relevant authorities to ensure the employees’ safety and secure their prompt release from detention.

The joint venture said it was cooperating with authorities and paused construction.

“The economic activities of our investing companies and the rights and interests of our citizens must not be unjustly infringed during the process of U.S. law enforcement,” said South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, which expressed regret over the arrests. 

The South Korean nationals working in Georgia were largely given visas suitable for training purposes, such as the B-1 visa, and many there were working as instructors, according to a South Korean official.

“We are reviewing our processes to ensure that all parties working on our projects maintain the same high standards of legal compliance that we demand of ourselves,” Hyundai said in a statement. This includes thorough vetting of employment practices by contractors and subcontractors. North America Chief Manufacturing Officer Chris Susock will now assume governance of the entire megasite in Georgia and we will conduct an investigation to ensure all suppliers and their subcontractors comply with all laws and regulations.”

South Korean companies in strategic industries including semiconductors, shipbuilding and batteries have pledged tens of billions of dollars in new investments in the U.S.

The Hyundai raid could raise concerns for South Korean companies that are sending Korean personnel to the U.S. and hiring locally for their plants, said Hur Jung, who is president of the Korean Association of Trade and Industry Studies.

If such crackdowns are repeated, it “would damage trust and hurt industrial cooperation between the U.S. and South Korea across various industries, with negative repercussions for local communities as well,” said Hur, who is also an economics professor at Sogang University. 

Hyundai isn’t the only South Korean corporate behemoth plowing into the U.S. 

Several South Korean companies are investing in the U.S. Samsung Electronics is expanding chip-making facilities in Texas, while SK Hynix is planning an advanced chip-packaging plant in Indiana. South Korean battery makers, including LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On, have invested billions of dollars in building and operating U.S.-based factories across the Midwest.

cis a key partner in the Trump administration’s push to “Make America Shipbuilding Great Again” and recently promised to spend $150 billion to help the U.S. revive its ship manufacturing, which has fallen far behind China.

After news of the Georgia arrests, South Korea’s largest newspaper, the right-leaning Chosun Ilbo, ran a story with the headline: “After Investing in ‘Trump MAGA,’ What Came Back Was the Arrest of 300 Koreans.”