A week after a federal immigration raid on a South Korean battery plant under construction in Georgia, concerns over the economic fallout have reverberated between the United States and South Korea. The detention of more than 300 Korean workers at the Hyundai-LG worksite in Ellabell has created uncertainty both about the future of the project and those like it in Georgia, as well as the exact reasons for the aggressive and unusual workplace raid.

One reason that may have driven immigration officials to take actions that threaten an important trade relationship and a politically and economically sensitive development in one of the poorest parts of the US: workplace safety issues that led to three deaths in two years.

The investigation began in March, DHS officials said, a time that coincides with the second of three fatal workplace accidents at the site. It is conceivable that the presence of undocumented workers might have contributed to workplace safety culture issues, if people were not free to make complaints to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration out of fear of deportation…

Hyundai and LG were asked whether workers at this or other sites owned by LG or Hyundai are free to report workplace safety issues without reprisal…