Released detained Korean workers. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 300 South Korean workers detained in a sweeping U.S. immigration raid have been released a week after their arrest, bringing relief to families and easing fears that the dispute could further strain bilateral ties.
On Thursday, buses carrying the workers left an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Folkston, Georgia, bound for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
The detainees had been swept up on September 4 when federal agents, backed by helicopters, stormed the construction site of a Hyundai Motor–LG Energy Solution battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia.
Video footage released by ICE showed rows of workers shackled at the wrists and ankles and marched onto buses — a scene that drew outrage in South Korea, where the laborers had been seen as skilled expatriates sent to support one of the most prominent Korean investments in the United States.
The mass detention quickly became a diplomatic flashpoint. Seoul dispatched emergency teams, and consular officials began visiting detainees within days.
Detained workers from the Hyundai–LG battery plant construction site depart the ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia, en route to Atlanta Airport on September 11. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and senior envoys held urgent talks in Washington with U.S. national security officials to secure the workers’ release and assurances that they would not face penalties when re-entering the United States.
A chartered Korean Air flight is scheduled to bring the workers home, though their departure was briefly delayed by what Seoul described as “U.S. procedural issues.”
President Lee Jae-myung, marking his first 100 days in office, confirmed Wednesday that the group would leave Georgia later in the day and arrive in Seoul on Thursday.
The incident has rippled far beyond Georgia. Business leaders worry the raid could cast a shadow over billions of dollars of planned Korean investment in the United States, particularly in batteries, semiconductors and shipbuilding.
U.S. President Donald Trump, seeking to calm tensions, told reporters that America lacked sufficient skilled workers in these industries and emphasized the need for labor exchanges with South Korea.
For the released workers, the ordeal ended not with chains but with a homecoming. After a week of being treated like criminals in a foreign land, they will soon return to South Korea — exhausted but free.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
