What we know about the agreement for South Korean workers detained in Georgia to return home

When hundreds of federal, state and local officers went down to a manufacturing plant in Georgia Hyundai last week, they came armed with a mandate of judicial search appointing four people. In the end, more than 450 people were placed in police custody, according to officials, suspected of living and working illegally in the United States.

The raid with high issues has followed a several week’s investigation and has marked the biggest scan to date in the repression of immigration from the Trump administration to American sites. His repercussions reached the corridors of diplomacy, which prompted the Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea to make a personally traveling offer in Washington, DC, “to engage directly with US officials to resolve this issue”.

The majority of those arrested – more than 300 – were South Korean, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country, and will return to South Korea on an chartered flight in what immigration lawyers call a single agreement.

“I do not know another case where a government responded by chartering a flight,” said Sarah Owings, an immigration lawyer representing several of the South Koreans detained Thursday.

The South Korean government has actively worked to guarantee the liberation of workers, as well as its representatives at the Korean Embassy in Washington, DC, and the Consulate General in Atlanta.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cho Hyun, will leave Seoul at 7:40 p.m. local time (6:40 am) on Monday for Washington, DC, while Seoul works to bring back the nationals as soon as possible “by voluntary departure,” said the office of the ministry spokesperson. An chartered plane calendar has not yet been defined.

“The government will ensure that all necessary measures are actually implemented to carry out both the rapid release of our owned citizens and the stable implementation of investment projects,” said the head of the president of the South Korean president Kang Hoon-Sik on Sunday.

The Hyundai metapping of 2,900 acres has two parts: a manufacturing site for Hyundai electric vehicles and an EV battery plant which is a joint venture between Hyundai and LG. The factory had to employ up to 8,500 people once finished.

Here is what we know about the workers detained, their return home and the Hyundai – LG battery factory where they worked.

The actions of the Korean government are “not the normal business course”, according to Jorge Gavilanes, an immigration lawyer based in Atlanta who works for a law firm contacted by some detainees.

“From what we have seen with immigration over the years and various administrations, (the Charter) seems to have a meaning according to what their immigration status could be,” Gavilanes told CNN.

We do not know what type of visas the Korean nationals working at the factory had. Some of the 475 detainees entered the United States illegally, according to Steven Schrank, a special agent of in charge of internal security in charge, while others had exceeded their visas. Others were here within the framework of the American visa renunciation program which allows workers to travel for tourism or business for up to 90 days, and was subsequently prohibited to work,

“When you enter the Visa renunciation program, you will not have the opportunity to see a judge to be withdrawn, you have simply automatically emitted an ice prescription” to leave the country, said Gavilanes. As a general rule, these people would be withdrawn from the United States at the expense of the government,, But in this case, he said, The South Korean government is based on the bill.

“It seems that it is in the interest of South Korea to try to recover their people as quickly as possible,” said Gavilanes.

Georgia’s immigration lawyer Charles Kuck said that CNN two of his clients had been arrested during the raid after arriving from South Korea under a waiver of a visa. One customer arrived in the United States in August and the other arrived several weeks ago, he said.

Although none of the Korean nationals worked for Hyundai, around 50 of them worked for LG Energy Solutions. 250 other mainly Korean national employees worked for HL-GA Battery Company LLC, which operates under Hyundai and LG.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung previously called for “necessary measures” to support prisoners.

In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for LG Energy Solution said that the company cooperated with the process: “We will devote our best efforts to ensure the safe and rapid return of our employees and those of our partners.”

When questioned on Monday the status of visa of detained workers, the company declared to CNN: “The visa status of the detained persons is under investigation, so we do not yet know.”

CNN contacted the State Department, the Ministry of Internal Security, immigration and customs application and Hyundai to comment.

In CNN’s previous statements, LG Energy Solution said that his human resources chief went to Georgia to help the publication of South Korean nationals held.

The company also said that it suspended most of its business trips to the United States. “Employees are advised during travel immediately to return home immediately or stay in their accommodation, given their current work status,” said a statement.

“The” rapid liberation “of detained individuals is our absolute priority at the moment,” said LG Energy Solution Human Resources, Kim Kim Ki-Soo, in the press release.

Outside the establishment on Saturday, the demonstrators gathered with daring banners and sang in Spanish and Korean, demanding justice for the hundreds of detained workers.

“These people have families and relatives and they have no contact with them,” a protester told CNN, who gave his name as Kim, calling the “disgusting” stiffness.

The workers detained Thursday worked at Hyundai Metaplant in Ellabelll, Georgia, about 40 kilometers west of Savannah.

The sprawling installation of 2,900 acres has two parts: a Hyundai electric vehicle manufacturing site and an EV battery plant which is a joint venture between Hyundai and LG.

In 2022, Hyundai announced an agreement with the state of Georgia to build the “first installation of manufacturing vehicles and fully electrified Hyundai in the United States” in the county of Bryan, the company said.

The raid stopped building the EV battery plant, reported the Associated Press. The metapping had to create 8,500 jobs.

A search warrant filed Tuesday in the southern District of Georgia identified four people specifically to be searched, but the authorities arrived with substantial staff and equipment, suggesting an intention to make a wider scan.

“It was not an immigration operation where the agents entered the premises, gathered people and put them on buses,” said Schrank.

“This is a criminal investigation of several months where we have developed evidence, conducted interviews, collected documents and presented these elements of evidence in court in order to obtain judicial search terms.”

On the Georgia site, masked and armed agents gave orders to the construction workers with helmets and safety vests when they aligned themselves while the officers made a descent into the installation, the video sequences obtained by CNN have shown.

Ice and internal safety surveys were accompanied by the Georgia State Patrol, FBI, DEA, ATF and other agencies in the execution of a search warrant.

“Together, we send a clear and unequivocal message: those who exploit our workforce, undermine our economy and violate federal laws will be held responsible,” the Ministry of Internal Security said in a statement.