Hundreds of detainees in the best economic development project in Georgia

Stephen Sheeranik, the leading agent of Georgia for internal security investigations, said during a press conference on Friday that the raid resulted from an investigation that lasted for months in illegal employment allegations on the site and was the “largest enforcement of individual sites” in the history of the agency for two decades.

The Thursday raid targeted one of the largest and most manufacturing sites in Georgia, where Hyundai Motor The group started a year ago to manufacture electric cars with a factory of $ 7.6 billion. The site employs about 1,200 people in an area about 25 miles (40 km) west of Safana, where the bedroom societies are bleeding on farms. The governor of the state, Brian Kemp, and other officials, promoted him to be the largest economic development project in the state.

The agents focused on their operation on a adjacent factory that is still under construction, which was held by Hyundai partnership with it LG Power solution to Batter’s production That power EVS.

The records of the court presented this week indicated that the prosecutors do not know who rented what was called “hundreds of illegal foreigners.” “The actual company or the contractor who employs illegal foreigners is currently unknown,” the US Public Prosecutor’s Office wrote in a file on Thursday.

The South Korean government expresses its concern

The South Korean government has expressed “anxiety and remorse” the process targeting its citizens.

Koreans are rarely arrested in enforcement of immigration compared to other nationalities. Only 46 Koreans were deported during the 12 -month period that ended on September 30, 2024, among more than 270,000 removal for all nationalities, according to the enforcement of immigration and customs.

“The commercial activities of our investors and the rights of our citizens should not violate the American law enforcement process,” South Korea’s spokesman for Li Gaeong said in a televised statement from Seoul.

He told me that the ministry is sending diplomats from its embassy in Washington and a consulate in Atlanta to the site, and plans to form a response team on the site.

Immigration lawyer Charles Cook said that two of his clients who have been detained have arrived from South Korea under the visa waiver program that enables them to travel to tourism or work for 90 days or less without obtaining a visa.

He said that one of his clients was in the United States two weeks ago, while the other was in the country for 45 days. No details about the type of work they were doing, but he said they were planning to return home soon.

Shernche told Savana correspondents that while some of the workers detained to the American border illegally crossed, others entered the country legally, but they have finished visas or entered into a waiver of the visa that prevented them from working. He said that some of the detainees worked for the batteries manufacturer, while others were working by the sub -contractors and contractors at the construction site.

Shernche said that he does not know specifically 475 Korean citizens, but they constitute a majority. He said that no person was charged after any crimes, but the investigation continues.

Sharank said: “This was not a migration, as the agents entered the building, and they collected people, and put it on the buses.” “This was a multi -criminal investigation, as we have developed evidence and conducted interviews, and we collected documents and presented these evidence to the court in order to obtain a judicial inspection note.”

He said that most of the detainees had been transferred to the immigration detention center in Volkson, Georgia, near the Florida state line.

The Trump administration carried out comprehensive icy operations

The administration of President Donald Trump carried out comprehensive ice operations as part of Collective deportation agenda. Their immigration officers I raided the farmerBuilding sites, restaurants and car repair shops.

The Pew Research Center, citing the data of the First Statistics Office, says that the American workforce has lost more than 1.2 million immigrants From January to July. This includes illegal persons in the country as well as the legal population.

On Friday, the Democratic Party in Georgia condemned the raid with its chair, Charlie Pelly, describing the raids as “the political motives with political motives designed to terrorize people who are working hard to live a living from our economy and contribute to societies throughout Georgia that they made their homes.”

Kembe and other Republican officials in Georgia, who assembled Hyundai and celebrated the opening of the EV factory, issued statements on Friday, saying that all employers in the state are expected to follow the law.

Hyundai is located on an area of ​​3000 acres (1,214 hectares) in a large rural area in Brian County, where workers were drawn from many provinces and surrounding societies including Savanna.

Tania Cox, residing in Elabil, who lives less than a mile from Hyundai, said it has no bad feelings towards Korean citizens or other migrant workers on the site. But few of the neighbors were working there, and I felt that more construction functions in the battery factory should have gone to the locals.

“I don’t see how I brought a lot of jobs to our society or nearby societies,” Cox said. “Where we used to hear the birds and animal life here, we now hear the plant when it goes completely at night.”

Hyundai began producing electric cars on the site last September. After a few months, the CEO of Hyundai Motor Group Euisun Chung was attributed to the White House with Trump the president’s decision to create more American jobs by building the EV factory in Georgia.

“Our decision to invest in Safana, Georgia, who established more than 8,500 American jobs, started during a social social with President Trump in Seoul in 2019,” Chung said at the March event.

The battery factory is scheduled to open next year

The battery factory run by HL-Ga Battery Co. is scheduled to open It is a joint project by Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, next year.

In relevant inspection order and written certificates, the agents said they want employment records for current and former workers; Employees files; Information salary statements; Bank account information; Video and photos of workers; Immigration documents. Social security cards, visas, passports and birth certificates were also targeted. The agents also sought records about the ownership and management of multiple construction companies and contractors called the research matter.

The documents included the names and pictures of four people who were identified as “targeted people” to be searched, without more information about them.

In a statement to Associated Press, LG said it “is closely monitoring the situation and collecting all relevant details.” She immediately could not confirm the number of her employees or Hyundai workers who were detained.

Factory spokesman Bianca Johnson said that the operations at the EV manufacturing factory in Hyundai were not interrupted by RAID. Hyundai Motor Company said in a statement on Friday that it “is working to understand the specific conditions” of the raid and detention.

The company statement said: “As of today, we understand that none of the detainees does not work directly by Hyundai Motor Company.”

HL-Ga Battery Co. Immediately to request the comment on Friday. In a statement on Thursday, the company said it was “fully cooperating with the competent authorities.”

Those who were arrested on Thursday may be arrested on the deportation as their cases through the Immigration Court. The number of people in the nursery on the ice exports 60,000 in August, the highest level ever.