Some South Korean workers return to Georgia factory after US reissues visas
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Hyundai and LG Energy Solution own the battery plant in Georgia where the immigration raid took place.
PHOTO: REUTERS
John Yoon
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SEOUL – South Korean workers began returning to a factory in Georgia in October after the State Department reissued their visas, as the Trump administration seeks to undo the damage from a large workplace immigration raid.
About 180 people who were in the United States on B-1 business visas have had them restored, said Mr Kim Min-su, who was among those detained in the raid on Sept 4 in southern Georgia.
Two lawyers representing the workers confirmed that all the B-1 visa holders who were detained – out of the 317 South Koreans detained in total – had their visas restored.
At least 30 of those workers have gone back to the battery plant, which is owned by Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, said Mr Kim, who has surveyed the South Korean former detainees in preparation for a class-action lawsuit against the US immigration authorities over their detention.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that US officials had contacted the former detainees individually about their visa renewals and taken steps to ensure that no adverse information related to the Georgia operation remained on their records.
In response to questions about the workers, the State Department said in a statement that it was providing visas to support South Korean investments in the US and to allow short-term entry for people with special skills. The department said it would not comment on individual cases, citing confidentiality laws.
HL-GA Battery Company, which owns the plant where the raid happened, said it resumed construction activity and thanked the US and South Korean governments for “supporting a smooth and timely return”, according to Ms Mary Beth Kennedy, a spokeswoman.
The US authorities detained a total of 475 workers in the raid and sent them to a detention facility that was described as unsanitary. Homeland Security officials called it the largest detention of immigrants at a US workplace ever and accused them of being in the country illegally or working unlawfully.
But more than half of the South Koreans detained were in the US on valid visas, according to their lawyers. NYTIMES
