President Donald Trump moved on Sunday to limit the fallout from one of the largest immigration raids in recent history. Just ten days earlier, U.S. immigration agents stormed Hyundai’s $4 billion electric vehicle battery plant project in Georgia and arrested 475 workers, most of them South Korean engineers and technicians. The incident triggered outrage in Seoul and raised fears for the future of U.S.–Korea industrial cooperation.

The Raid at Hyundai’s Georgia Plant

On September 4, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on the Hyundai–LG facility under construction west of Savannah. Workers later described a military-style operation with helicopters overhead and armed officers pointing guns. More than 300 South Koreans were detained, alongside smaller groups of Chinese, Japanese, and Indonesian nationals.

The detainees were transported nearly 300 miles to Folkston, Georgia. Inside the detention center, they were shackled at the wrists and ankles, forced into overcrowded rooms, and served food that some said was inedible. Moldy mattresses, poor sanitation, and lack of medical support worsened the ordeal. Several recalled burns from overheated chains and confusion as agents pressured them to sign documents without translation.

Families Wait as Seoul Intervenes

In Korea, families had little information until the Foreign Ministry intervened. Officials confirmed the numbers and opened direct talks with Washington to secure their release. By September 11, buses carried the workers back to Atlanta, where a chartered Korean Air flight waited to return them home.

When they landed in Seoul on September 12, their accounts revealed fear and humiliation. According to The Korea Times, workers said ICE agents pointed guns, forced them into leg irons, and chained both their hands and feet. They described being handcuffed with burning-hot restraints, ordered to sign documents they could not read, and packed into crowded detention rooms with moldy mattresses and inedible food. Phones and belongings were seized, and they were issued prison uniforms and identification numbers as though they were criminals. One worker recalled thinking it was a joke until shackles burned his skin. Another spoke of women struggling without sanitary supplies. Many said they had come legally to install machinery and train staff, but instead they were treated like fugitives.

Trump Responds to Backlash

As outrage spread in Korea, Trump addressed the controversy on Truth Social. He insisted that foreign workers are “welcome” in America and said he did not want to “frighten off or disincentivize investment.” He argued that U.S. employees should learn from foreign technicians before those workers return home, a remark interpreted as a bid to reassure investors rather than address the conditions of detention.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called the raid “bewildering” and warned that it could discourage future investment. Trade unions in Seoul accused Washington of failing to protect skilled workers and demanded an official apology. Protests over the weekend in central Seoul targeted the U.S. Embassy, with banners reading “Trump must apologize.”

Fallout in Seoul and Washington

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, visiting Korea, expressed “deep regret” and pledged that workers would face no disadvantage if they reentered America. Yet the revelations of chains, overcrowding, and coercion have hardened public anger in Korea. Online, many users questioned whether the U.S. remains a reliable ally and called for retaliation, including stricter checks on Americans working in Korea.

For Washington, the raid has turned into a diplomatic crisis. What began as an immigration enforcement action now threatens a major investment project and a strategic alliance. With lawsuits expected and public anger in Seoul still mounting, both governments face pressure to prove that the Georgia raid will not become a defining rupture in U.S.–Korea relations.

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