In brief
During a dramatic raid at a Hyundai-LG factory in Ellabell, Georgia, federal agents arrested 475 workers, including many South Korean nationals. An eyewitness described the confusion and panic as operations ceased and family members frantically tried to reach their loved ones. The incident marks one of the largest immigration enforcement operations in U.S. history, raising questions about legal employment practices at the site. Both Hyundai and LG are cooperating with authorities amid concerns about the impact of such actions on U.S.-South Korean relations.
A South Korean worker who witnessed a massive immigration operation at a car factory in Georgia has told the BBC of panic and confusion as federal agents descended on the site and arrested hundreds. The man, who asked to remain anonymous, was at the factory which is jointly owned by Hyundai and LG Energy when agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 475 people, including 300 South Korean nationals, with some being led away in chains.He said he first became aware of the Thursday morning raid when he and his colleagues received a deluge of phone calls from company bosses. Multiple phone lines were ringing and the message was to shut down operations, he said.As news spread of the raid, the largest of its kind since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, panicked family members tried to contact the workers. They were detained and they left all their cell phones in the office. They were getting calls, but we couldn't answer because [the office] was locked, he said.According to US officials, some workers tried to flee, including several who jumped into a nearby sewage pond. They were separated into groups based on nationality and visa status, before being processed and loaded onto multiple coaches. Some 400 state and federal agents had gathered outside the sprawling $7.6 billion factory complex, which is about half an hour from Savannah, before entering the site around 10:30 on Thursday.The 3,000-acre complex opened last year and workers assemble electric vehicles. Immigration officials had been investigating alleged illegal employment practices at the electric vehicle battery plant being built in the compound.The operation ultimately became the largest single-site immigration enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security investigations, officials said, emphasizing that hundreds of those detained were not legally permitted to work in the US.BBC Verify has been reviewing footage posted on social media, reportedly filmed inside the battery plant during the raid. One video shows men lined up in a room as a masked agent from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) instructed them: We're Homeland Security, we have a search warrant for the whole site. We need construction to cease immediately. The worker we met, who is legally entitled to work in the US, expressed shock but also a sense of inevitability regarding the operation.Hyundai and LG released a statement indicating their cooperation with authorities and confirmed that construction at the site has been paused.The raid, dubbed 'Operation Low Voltage', targeted an electric battery plant and reflected heightened enforcement under the Trump administration. The implications are profound; the worker suggested that many companies may rethink their investment strategies in the U.S. in light of the administrative complexities surrounding visa applications and compliance with employment laws.
