A chartered plane arrived Wednesday morning at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to take home the detained Korean workers from last week’s immigration raid at the Hyundai Metaplant campus in Ellabell, but as of Wednesday afternoon there has been no word from the U.S. government on when the workers will be released.
On Sunday, Sept. 7., the South Korean government announced a plan to bring the more than 300 detained Korean workers home via a chartered plane. As reported in the Associated Press, Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff for South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, said that South Korea and the U.S. had finalized negotiations on the workers’ release.
However, the chartered plane is not expected to leave on Wednesday, according to South Korea’s foreign ministry in a Reuters report, due to "unspecified U.S. circumstances.”
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun made a request to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday to allow the workers to leave the country quickly and without handcuffs or other physical restraints.
The workers are currently being held at the D. Ray James Correctional Facility in Folkston, Georgia until further notice.
U.S. immigration authorities announced Friday they detained 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals, when hundreds of federal agents raided Hyundai’s manufacturing site in Ellabell in north Bryan County where the Korean automaker makes electric vehicles. Agents targeted the HL-GA Battery Company, LLC, which sits next to Hyundai’s electric-vehicle producing Metaplant. LG Energy Solutions–the parent company of HL-GA Battery–is currently partnering with Hyundai to build an adjacent battery plant at the site scheduled to open in 2026.
At Tuesday’s regular County Commission meeting, Bryan County Commission Chairman Carter Infinger read out a statement regarding the commission’s noninvolvement in Thursday’s federal immigration search:
“The Board of Commissioners of Bryan County was not directly involved in the federal immigration enforcement operation at the HL-GA Battery facility and has no role in the hiring and employment practices of the companies operating there,” Chairman Infinger said.
“While we appreciate the economic and employment opportunities that companies and individuals bring to our county, we expect all companies and individuals conducting business in Bryan County to fully comply with all federal, state and local laws and regulations, including immigration laws. Our priority is and has always been protecting and enhancing Bryan County citizens and the quality of the lives of its citizens.”