Overview

• Roughly 475 workers were taken into ICE custody, with most processed at the Folkston facility in southeast Georgia.
• HSI’s Atlanta chief said many of those detained are South Korean nationals and called it the agency’s largest single-site operation.
• The search focused on construction areas for the Hyundai–LG battery plant, pausing that project while EV production at the adjacent facility continued.
• Hyundai and its joint venture said they are cooperating and indicated they understand the detained individuals were contracted workers, not direct Hyundai employees.
• South Korea dispatched consular teams and formally expressed concern, and U.S. officials said the investigation remains open with no broad set of criminal charges announced.