“Homeland security official says 475 people were detained during an immigration raid in Georgia”, 6 September 2025

Immigration authorities said Friday they detained 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals, when hundreds of federal agents raided the sprawling manufacturing site in Georgia where Korean automaker Hyundai makes electric vehicles.

Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent of Homeland Security Investigations, said during a news conference Friday that the raid resulted from a monthslong investigation into allegations of illegal hiring at the site and was the “largest single site enforcement operation” in the agency’s two-decade history.

The Thursday raid targeted one of Georgia’s largest and most high-profile manufacturing sites, where Hyundai Motor Group a year ago began manufacturing electric vehicles at a $7.6 billion plant. The site employs about 1,200 people in an area about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Savannah where bedroom communities bleed into farms. Gov. Brian Kemp and other officials have touted it as the state’s largest economic development project.

Agents focused their operation on an adjacent plant that is still under construction at which Hyundai has partnered with LG Energy Solution to produce batteries that power EVs.

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The South Korean government expressed “concern and regret” over the operation targeting its citizens.

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In a statement to The Associated Press, LG said it was “closely monitoring the situation and gathering all relevant details.” It said it couldn’t immediately confirm how many of its employees or Hyundai workers had been detained.

Operations at Hyundai’s EV manufacturing plant weren’t interrupted by the raid, said plant spokesperson Bianca Johnson.

Hyundai Motor Company said in a statement Friday that none of its employees had been detained as far as it knew. The company said it would review its practices to make sure suppliers and subcontractors follow U.S. employment laws.

“Hyundai has zero tolerance for those who don’t follow the law,” the company’s statement said.

HL-GA Battery Co. did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. In a statement Thursday, the company said it’s “cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities.”

Those arrested Thursday who fight deportation may be detained as their cases wind through immigration court. The number of people in ICE custody topped 60,000 in August, an all-time high.