A South Korean charter plane left for the U.S. on Wednesday to bring back Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in Georgia.
A total of 475 workers, more than 300 of them South Koreans, were rounded up in the Sept. 4 raid at the battery factory under construction at Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant west of Savannah. Some were shown shackled with chains around their hands, ankles and waists in video released by U.S. authorities.
South Korea’s government later said it reached an agreement with the U.S. for the release of the workers.
South Korean TV footage showed what it said was the charter plane taking off at Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, on Wednesday morning. The plane will return to South Korean with the detained workers on Thursday afternoon, media reports said.
The workplace raid by the U.S. Homeland Security agency was its largest yet as it pursues its mass deportation agenda. It targeted Georgia, where many large South Korean businesses operate and plan future investments. Only weeks ago, South Korea promised hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. investments to reach a tariff deal. U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung held their first summit in Washington on Aug. 25.
Trump said this week the workers “were here illegally,” and that the U.S. needs to work with other countries to have their experts train U.S. citizens to do specialized work such as battery and computer manufacturing.
