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Many car workers arrested in a huge raid for immigration in the US workplace have violated visas for visitors, officials say.
Immigration and Customs Execution (ICE) said 475 people, mostly South Korean citizens, were recognized illegally at the Hyundai battery plant on Thursday.
“People who are in short-term or recreational visas have no right to work in the US,” Ice said, adding that raid is needed to protect US jobs.
South Korea, whose companies have promised to invest billions in the US key industries in the coming years, partly to avoid tariffs, sent diplomats to Georgia and called for citizens’ rights.
The arrested employees were carried out in the ice in Folkstan, Georgia, until the agency decides where to move them.
Of those detained, it is reported that 300 people who are Korean citizens. In a statement by Hyundai, none of them was directly busy with the company.
The LG Energy Solution, which works at the Hyundai plant, told the BBC that the main priority was to ensure the safety and well -being of its employees and partners, and that it will “fully cooperate with the relevant authorities.”
In a statement on Friday, the ICE office in Savannah said the raid was “part of an active, current criminal investigation”.
“The arrested during the operation were recognized illegally to work, violating the conditions of their visas and/or statuses,” the statement added.
But Charles Cook, Immigration Lawyer in Atlanta, told The New York Times that his two customers mistakenly got into the raid.
He told the newspaper that the couple was in the US as part of a visa waiver program that allows them to travel for tourism or business up to 90 days.
“My customers did exactly what they were allowed to do at a visa refusal – to attend business meetings,” he said on Friday.
He said one of them arrived only on Tuesday and had to leave next week.
Ice said that one of the detainees was a citizen and a green card with a long rap.
Earlier, the person was convicted of storage of drugs trying to sell stolen firearms and theft, Ice reports.
Special Internal Security Agent (HSI) Stephen Shrank said: “We welcome all companies who want to invest in the US.
“And if they need to attract workers for construction or other projects, it is normal – but they need to do so.
“This operation sends a clear message that those who exploit the system and undermine our labor will be held accountable.”
The South Korean Foreign Ministry replied to the raid by: “The economic activity of Korean investment companies and the rights and interests of Korean citizens should not be unjustly violated during US law enforcement operations.”
The raid causes possible tension between two presidential priorities, Donald Trump, to increase production in the US and is raising illegal immigration. It can also stress in the country’s relationship with a key ally.
On Friday, President Trump said in an oval office: “They were illegal foreigners, and the ice simply did their job.”
Asked by a reporter about Seoul’s reaction, he replied: “Well, we want to get along with other countries, and we want to have a wonderful, stable labor.
“And, as I understand it, there are many illegal foreigners, some are not the best people, but we have worked there many illegal foreigners.”
Trump has worked to attract large investments from other countries, as well as charged tariffs, he said, will give the manufacturers stimuli for the manufacture of goods in the US.
The president also campaigned to stop illegal immigration, telling supporters that he believed that migrants steal the Americans.
The factory, which creates new electric cars, was recognized as the Republican Governor of Georgia as the largest project of economic development in the history of the state in which 1200 people worked.
