South Korea said on Monday it was in talks with the United States over allowing the re-entry of hundreds of its citizens who were arrested last week during a US immigration raid at a car battery project and are due to be flown home soon.
About 300 South Koreans were among 475 people arrested on Thursday at the Georgia site of a $4.3 billion (€3.6 billion) project by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution to build batteries for electric cars.
It was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the department of homeland security’s investigative operations, and sent shockwaves through South Korea, a US ally that has been trying to finalise a trade deal agreed in July.
The raid came 10 days after South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, met US president Donald Trump in Washington and the two pledged closer business ties.
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Addressing reporters before leaving for the US on Monday, South Korean foreign minister Cho Hyun called the detention of the South Koreans “a grave situation” and said he would work with Washington on measures to prevent similar incidents.
Seoul said on Sunday that discussions to arrange the release of workers, who were mostly employed by subcontractors, were largely concluded. A plan is in the works to fly them home on a chartered plane this week under what one South Korean foreign ministry official said would be called a “voluntary departure”.
“From the beginning, we negotiated with the premise that there should be no personal disadvantage (to the detained workers),” Mr Cho told a parliamentary hearing on Monday.
US department of homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said many of the people detained in the Georgia operation would be deported.
“People that are in this country illegally need to know right now, today, that they have an opportunity to go home before they are detained,” Noem told reporters on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting in London.
Details on how the workers may have breached immigration rules have not been released by authorities or the companies, but South Korean lawmakers said on Monday some may have overstepped the boundaries of a 90-day visa waiver programme or a B-1 temporary business visa.
Finance minister Koo Yun-cheol said he had heard that some experts had travelled from South Korea to help with a test run of the factory, which was due to begin production in October.
“You need to get a visa to do a test run, but it’s very difficult to get an official visa. Time was running out, and I think experts went to the United States,” he said.
Seoul has expressed its unhappiness about the arrests and the public release of footage showing the operation, which involved armoured vehicles and the shackling of workers.
Mr Trump, who has ramped up deportations nationwide as his administration cracks down on illegal immigrants, said last week he had not been aware of the raid. He called those detained “illegal aliens”.
On Sunday, he called on foreign companies investing in the US to “respect our Nation’s immigration laws”, but sounded more conciliatory.
“Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so,” he said on Truth Social. —Reuters
