US officers tied us and pointed weapons on us, South Korean engineers tell BBC

When Young Gin looked out of his office’s window and saw armored vehicles and law enforcement officers running with weapons, he was surprised but did not worry.

The young South Korea was convinced that he had nothing to do with him. He was in the US for just a few weeks on a short -term visa, he thought to himself.

Then the armed agents broke into their room and ordered him on the street. They handcuffed before attaching chains to the waist and ankle, and loaded it on a bus heading to the detention center.

“I panic and my mind sank. I became bad” he said BBCNow return home to South Korea.

“I couldn’t understand why they treated me.”

Youngjin is one of the more than 300 Korean workers who have been detained in the US state in Georgia earlier this month, in one of the largest immigration raids of President Donald Trump today. He and others, interviewed in this article, did not want to reveal their true names to protect their identity.

Initially, US officials claimed that workers were illegally on the wrong visas in the country, but eventually both sides made a deal that allowed them to voluntarily leave without any punishments so that they could return to work in the future.

Most workers were temporarily in the US, helping to create a battery -driven electric car battery that manages two South Korean companies, Hyundai and LG – a part of the United States seeking to force foreign companies to invest and produce more in the States.

L.G. He said that many of his arrested staff had different types of visas or were in the framework of a visa refusal program. And so they were especially shocked by the raid.

“We just got out a short break, and I could see a lot of people with weapons. Like Koreans, we just thought they were here to arrest the criminals, but then they suddenly started arresting us,” said Chul-Yung, who was also detained on that day.

He said they tried to explain who they were, but they were horrified: “There were helicopters and drones, armored vehicles … people with weapons.”

He claimed that some officers showed weapons on the workers. “Do you know the red lasers that come out of these weapons? It was so shocking that some people trembled out of fear.”

Even those who managed to share their visa details said they were arrested. “I thought everything would be cleared, but instead they suddenly called us,” said Mr.

Chul-yun said that he was connected to his ankles and another waist. “It was so tight, I couldn’t touch my hands.”

They all said they did not imagine why it was happening or where they were taken. “Later, I learned that I was detained at the Iceston Ice processing center,” said Chul-Yung, engineer. He planned to stay for about a month, but was arrested on his sixth day.

Young gin, engineer and subcontractor for LG, had to be there five weeks to teach employees to manage some specialized high -tech equipment.

The 30-year-old guy trembled, still noticeably upset because he described the BBC to be taken to the detention center and locked in the room with 60-70 other people.

“I had a panic attack. I was just shaking there,” he said. The room was freezing, and the new detainees were not given blankets for the first two days, he added.

“I was in short sleeves, so I put my hands in my clothes and wrapped myself in a towel to try to stay warm at night,” he said. “The worst was the water. It smelled like a sewer. We drank as little as possible.”

The second beds were accepted, said Chul-yun when he arrived, leaving him and others to find any empty place to rest, even the empty table where they could lower his head.

“We tried to sleep anywhere. In fact it was very cold. There were people who found the packaged bread, heated in the microwave, hugging it throughout the night.”

The first few days Yangzin did not imagine how long it would be. He was afraid it could be months. Only after some workers were able to meet with lawyers and consular officers, did they realize that their government worked with the US authorities to release them.

“Even in the US, it may have gone a little too far,” said South Korean’s main trade negotiator after returning from the United States. Seoul says he is now investigating potential human rights violations during the US authorities.

Trump recognized the need to create specialists from foreign training, and according to South Korean officials, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau expressed his “deep regrets” about the incident.

However, he shaved relations between the US and South Korea, usually closed by allies, especially since it became difficult on the heels of the trading transaction, in which South Korean companies have promised to invest $ 350 billion in the US.

Mr.

Jundzhin, who was in the US in the 90-day visa waiver program, unwavering that he did nothing illegal. “I only attended the meetings and presentation of presentations,” he said, explaining that it was within the refusal. “My trust in the US was deeply shocked. I don’t think it’s a secure partner for South Korea.”

Although with his family, the engineer still struggles to process what happened to him. Seeing them at the airport after coming home on Friday night, he said he smiled and hugged them, but felt nothing.

“It was the way I was hollow inside. It was until my mom prepared me dinner that night that it really hit me, and I cried for the first time.”

And he leaves the house only for short trips. “When I am on the street, when I smell something like a prison, I start to tremble and don’t gasp, so I don’t go outside for a long time,” he said.

Chul-yun says he is also fighting experience. “We all came out of the gate of the arrival, but now that I think about it, I was close to tears,” he says, remembering his return home last week. “Saying it makes me break.”

And it was not easy to see yourself in the news on television. “You couldn’t see my face but you could recognize my body. So all my family and friends knew it was me.”

He believes that most workers “were enough” and cannot return. But he says he has no choice.

“That’s what I’m doing. I’ve been doing it for 30 years. I put my life into this work,” he adds.

“If I can’t do that I can do? How will my family live?”