Seoul reaches deal with US on release of 300 South Korean workers detained in immigration raid

Over 300 South Korean nationals who were detained during a large-scale immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in the state of Georgia in the US are to be released and flown home, Seoul confirmed on Sunday (September 7).Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik announced that negotiations with Washington had concluded successfully. “South Korea plans to send a charter plane to bring the workers home as soon as the remaining administrative steps are completed,” he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

Details of the negotiations were not immediately revealed.

The raid took place on Thursday (September 4) when US immigration authorities, supported by hundreds of federal agents, moved in on Hyundai’s electric vehicle manufacturing unit in Georgia. According to officials, a total of 475 people were detained, a majority of them South Korean nationals. South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun confirmed that over 300 of those held were citizens of South Korea.Also read | South Korea expresses ‘concern’ over US immigration raid at Hyundai’s Georgia plant

The operation is the latest in a series of workplace raids linked to the Trump administration’s strict deportation drive. However, Thursday’s raid stood out for its sheer scale and for targeting a facility that state leaders have described as Georgia’s most significant economic development project.

Footage released by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed convoys of federal vehicles entering the site, before workers were ordered outside. Some were searched with their hands against a bus and shackled around their wrists, ankles and waist.

South Korea vowed to support over 300 of its citizens who were arrested after a US immigration raid on a Hyundai Motor car battery facility in Georgia https://t.co/xvCwgfQEBY pic.twitter.com/rP4Duj1Ya4

— Reuters (@Reuters) September 7, 2025

However, US authorities confirmed that the focus of the raid was a Hyundai–LG Energy Solution battery plant, currently under construction, which will supply power units for electric vehicles.

Most of those detained were transferred to an immigration detention centre in Folkston, near the Florida border. Steven Schrank, Georgia’s lead agent for Homeland Security Investigations, told reporters on September 5 that none of the detainees had been charged with a crime so far. “The investigation is ongoing,” he added, AP reported.

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Seoul reacted swiftly, voicing “concern and regret” over the treatment of its citizens. South Korean diplomats were dispatched to the site to provide assistance and monitor developments closely.

(With inputs from agencies)