Immigration officials arrested nearly 500 workers, most of them South Korean nationals, at the construction site of an electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia on Thursday, as the Trump administration continues its far-ranging crackdown on illegal immigration.
The raid, which U.S. officials have called the largest-ever Homeland Security enforcement operation at a single location, prompted a swift response from South Korean officials at a tense moment in the two countries’ trade relationship. The plant at the center of the operation was co-owned by the South Korean carmaker Hyundai.
U.S. immigration authorities said the detained employees — many of them hired by subcontractors to help finish the plant’s construction — were working or living in the United States illegally. President Trump praised the raid, saying immigration authorities were doing their job, while democratic lawmakers in Georgia decried the operation as a politically motivated attack.
Here’s what we know about the raid and its fallout:
Where did it happen?
The raid targeted an electric vehicle battery plant still under construction in Ellabell, Ga., near Savannah. The plant is owned by two companies: Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution, both titans in South Korean industry.
Immigration officials descended on the plant on Thursday, arresting hundreds who were allegedly living or working in the United States illegally. The operation was the product of a monthslong investigation, officials said.
As of Thursday night, most of the detained workers were being held at the Folkston detention facility in southern Georgia.
The unfinished battery plant represented the kind of strategic investment the United States has welcomed from South Korea in recent years — one that promised to create manufacturing jobs and build up a growing industry.
Georgia has eagerly sought investment by South Korean businesses, with Gov. Brian Kemp visiting the country twice since taking office. Korean companies have invested in plants making batteries, semiconductor materials and solar panels, as well as a large-scale bakery and food distribution center. But the state has also enthusiastically embraced the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The Georgia State Patrol and the Georgia National Guard have both worked closely with federal immigration enforcement agents, and the State Patrol was involved in Thursday’s raid.
“In Georgia, we will always enforce the law, including all state and federal immigration laws,” the governor’s office said in a statement. “All companies operating within the state must follow the laws of Georgia and our nation.”
Who was arrested?
The raid swept up 475 people, most of them South Korean citizens, agents said.
No Hyundai employees were arrested, the carmaker said. LG Energy Solution, the battery manufacturer, said 47 of its employees were detained.
A majority of the arrested South Korean workers were not direct employees of Hyundai or LG but were subcontractors, according to industry officials familiar with the project. The LG employees arrested were helping oversee the factory’s construction, and had arrived in the United States with visas or under a visa waiver program, the officials said.
Steven Schrank, a special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Georgia, said during a news conference that some U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents were also detained in the raid and would be released.
The investigation has not yet yielded criminal charges.
How did South Korea respond?
South Korea expressed alarm at Thursday’s raid, with top government officials assembling for an emergency meeting. A spokesman for the country’s Foreign Ministry told reporters at a news conference on Friday that South Korean embassy and consular officials based in Atlanta and Washington were dispatched to the plant.
“The economic activities of our investment companies and the rights and interests of our citizens must not be unjustly violated during U.S. law enforcement proceedings,” the ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Editorials published in major South Korean newspapers criticized the raid, which came at a fraught time in U.S.-South Korean relations. The Trump administration has sought greater investments from the longtime ally while simultaneously imposing tariffs and visa restrictions on the country that have made those ventures more costly for South Korean companies.
In late July, both nations agreed to a deal that would levy 15 percent tariffs on most South Korean exports to the United States, down from a rate of 25 percent that Mr. Trump had threatened months earlier. But officials from the two countries are still hammering out the minutiae of that agreement.
Just last month, President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea traveled to Washington for a meeting with Mr. Trump. Some observers feared it could prove contentious, but it ultimately reaffirmed the two nations’ longstanding alliance.
South Korean companies have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States in recent years, drawn in part by policies to incentivize semiconductor and electric vehicle manufacturing. And Mr. Trump has sought even greater investment during tariff negotiations, with the White House securing $350 billion from South Korea as part of the preliminary tariff deal announced in July. Mr. Lee promised an additional $150 billion investment during his visit to the White House.
What have the companies involved said?
Both Hyundai and LG Energy Solution declined to comment on the findings of the Homeland Security investigation. But officials from both companies said they were prioritizing the safety of their workers and announced their own inquiries, including into the practices of their subcontractors.
On Saturday, LG said it had restricted its employees’ travel to the United States and advised staff already in the country on business trips to stay inside their accommodations or return to South Korea.
John Yoon, Jenny Gross, Aimee Ortiz, Ashley Ahn, Choe Sang-Hun, Rick Rojas, Lydia DePillis, Jim Lynn, Farah Stockman and Sean Keenan contributed reporting.
Chris Hippensteel is a reporter covering breaking news and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
The post What We Know About the Hyundai-LG Plant Immigration Raid in Georgia appeared first on New York Times.
