Kang Hoon-sik, the US’s top official, announced on Sunday that negotiations had been closed regarding the release of the workers who had been detained by US immigration authorities on Thursday.
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He claimed that South Korea intends to charter a plane so that workers can return home as soon as the remaining administrative tasks are finished.
When hundreds of federal agents raided Hyundai’s sprawling manufacturing facility in Georgia, where the Korean automaker produces electric vehicles, the US immigration authorities announced on Friday that they had detained 475 people, the majority of them South Korean nationals.
A spokesperson claimed that the raid’s immigration component was conducted as part of a more extensive, month-long investigation into labor practices at the site.
A caravan of vehicles approached the site and were captured on video by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Saturday, with federal agents directing workers to line up outside.
As some detainees were frisked, then shackled around their hands, ankles, and waists, they were instructed to place their hands up against a bus.
Trump targets the workforce of immigrants.
Since Donald Trump’s re-election in January, ICE has been helped by record funding and new latitude for raids as part of a crackdown on immigrants and refugees.
According to preliminary Census Bureau data, the US labor force lost more than 1.2 million immigrants between January and July, according to the Pew Research Center.
The president has stated that he wants to deport “the worst of the worst” criminals. However, ICE data indicate a rise in non-criminal detention.
This most recent raid demonstrates how disruptive Trump’s anti-immigration crackdown is infecting his efforts to entice foreign investment. The state of Georgia has the largest foreign investment, including the Hyundai-LG complex.
The $ 7.6 billion plant, home to about 1,200 people, is the biggest automaker in South Korea, which started producing electric vehicles a year ago. An adjacent battery plant, which will be constructed in the coming year, has been constructed in collaboration with LG Energy Solution.
Agents concentrated their efforts on the construction-going plant.
A Folkston, Georgia immigration detention facility close to the Florida state line was where the majority of the detained people were taken. Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent for Homeland Security Investigations, stated at a press conference on Friday that no crimes have been filed, adding that the investigation is still pending.
A “serious risk to the nation”
A close ally of the US, South Korea, expressed “concern and regret” over the raid’s sending of diplomats.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun remarked on Saturday that President Lee Jae-myung had given officials instructions to resolve the issue, stating that neither the rights nor the businesses that invest in the US should be violated, as Yonhap News Agency reported in a report.
The detentions “could pose a serious risk” to the country, according to South Korea’s opposition People Power Party (PPP).
Lee’s “pragmatic diplomacy” toward the US, according to senior PPP spokesman Park Sung-hoon, “failed to ensure both the safety of citizens and the competitiveness of South Korean businesses.”
Source: Aljazeera
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