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South Korea Sends Plane for Detained Hyundai–LG Workers as Release Faces U.S. Delay

Negotiations center on voluntary departure to let hundreds return without long re-entry bans.

Video image released by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Agency (ICE) agents rounding up South Korean employees at a Hyundai Motor Group factory in Ellabell, Georgia, on September 4, 2025.
Image
Activists holding signs that reads "No one is illegal!", chant slogans during a press conference to protest against a huge immigration raid last week at the site of a U.S. car battery project involving Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution in the U.S. state of Georgia, in front of the U.S. embassy in Seoul, South Korea, September 9, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
The Hyundai Metaplant electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Ellabell, Georgia, , on Friday, September 5.

Overview

  • Homeland Security agents detained 475 workers at the Ellabell, Georgia, battery project on Sept. 4, including more than 300 South Korean nationals shown in ICE video wearing shackles.
  • A Korean Air 747 dispatched from Incheon reached Atlanta to repatriate detainees, but Seoul said departures were delayed by unresolved U.S. procedures as talks continued in Washington.
  • South Korean officials say a tentative arrangement would allow voluntary departures rather than deportations, a path that avoids multi‑year bans on returning to the United States.
  • U.S. authorities cite illegal entry, overstays and unauthorized employment, while attorneys contend many detainees are specialized engineers or installers present under B‑1 or visa‑waiver status.
  • Construction linked to the Hyundai–LG site has paused, and Korean media report at least 22 U.S. projects were suspended as investors reassess plans and seek clearer visa options for skilled staff.