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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Flight repatriating South Koreans detained by US immigration | |
authorities departs Atlanta Thursday | |
By Karina Tsui, Mike Valerio, Yoonjung Seo, Jennifer Hansler, Jason | |
Morris, CNN | |
Updated: | |
1:31 PM EDT, Thu September 11, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
A flight carrying hundreds of South Korean workers who were detained by | |
US immigration authorities in Georgia last week departed late Thursday | |
morning, according to CNN Correspondent Gustavo Valdes, who witnessed | |
the plane take off at Hartsfield-Jackson International airport in | |
Atlanta. | |
The Korean Air charter plane is scheduled to arrive at Korea’s | |
Incheon International Airport on Friday afternoon. | |
The South Korean citizens “won’t be wearing handcuffs or other | |
physical restraints,” a Korean government official familiar with the | |
matter told CNN on Wednesday. | |
On Thursday, South Korea’s foreign ministry said had temporarily | |
paused the deportation process to discuss the workers’ potential | |
future in the US. | |
“President Trump temporarily paused the procedure in order to listen | |
to our position on whether it would be possible for our nationals, | |
who’re all skilled workers, to continue working in the US,” the | |
foreign ministry said in a statement. | |
“The South Korean side made it clear that under no circumstances | |
should there be delays in their departure and return, and that swift | |
and safe movement of our nationals should be ensured,” it said. | |
The workers were taken into custody last Thursday during a sweeping ICE | |
operation at a battery plant under construction in Ellabell, | |
approximately 25 miles west of Savannah. The plant is a joint venture | |
between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, two giants of South Korean | |
industry that have made major investments in the US. | |
Dozens of workers from other countries who were also detained in the | |
raid remain in ICE detention as their asylum claims process plays out. | |
While the South Korean workers are on their way home, the impact of the | |
detentions on US-South Korean relations – notably the countries’ | |
deep economic ties – will likely reverberate well into the future, | |
experts say. | |
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, who met with US Secretary of | |
State Marco Rubio on Wednesday, also requested support from the US to | |
ensure the South Korean citizens could quickly depart the US and | |
“receive no disadvantages for future visits to the US, since they are | |
not criminals,” according to a statement from the ministry. | |
News of the detentions – including images of workers being lined up | |
and restrained with long chains – has sparked widespread frustration | |
and outcry across the political spectrum in South Korea, a staunch and | |
longstanding US ally that earlier this year pledged to invest hundreds | |
of billions of dollars into the American economy. | |
“It’s really no way to treat your friends,” Cho Hee-kyoung, a law | |
professor at Seoul’s Hongik University, told CNN, calling the Trump | |
administration’s a “surprise.” | |
South Korea’s government announced Sunday that an agreement had been | |
reached with US officials to release the Korean workers, but the | |
details were still being finalized. | |
The State Department’s readout of the meeting between Rubio and Cho | |
did not mention last week’s detention of Hyundai workers but did | |
state, “The Secretary said the United States welcomes ROK investment | |
into the United States and stated his interest in deepening cooperation | |
on this front.” | |
The workers were taken into custody last Thursday during a sweeping ICE | |
operation at a battery plant under construction in Ellabell, | |
approximately 25 miles west of Savannah. The plant is a joint venture | |
between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, two giants of South Korean | |
industry that have made major investments in the US. | |
Outcry from an ally | |
South Korea has long been one of the United States’ closest allies | |
and is its sixth-largest trading partner. Many fear the detentions of | |
hundreds of workers from the country could on any business thinking of | |
striking a deal on US soil. | |
Since the ICE raid on September 4, Seoul –– which has a deeply | |
ingrained protest culture –– has not seen any large-scale | |
demonstrations against the US. Small protests have been seen, but any | |
outcry has largely played out elsewhere. | |
Newspaper opinion columns and social feeds have reached similar | |
conclusions: True partnership between the two countries means not | |
putting Koreans sent to the US in chains –– people sent across the | |
ocean to help the US thrive. | |
The conservative paper Chosun Ilbo reported growing calls from the | |
South Korean business community for the government to “formally sit | |
down at the negotiating table with the US and secure visa quotas for | |
Korean skilled workers, ensuring treatment that matches the scale of | |
our investments there.” | |
The more middle-of-the-road paper Hankook Ilbo warned of the “Trump | |
risk” Korean investors face, even after the announcement of a deal to | |
free the detained workers | |
In a column titled “Is this any way for the US to treat an ally?” | |
from the left-leaning outlet Hankyoreh, editors of the paper condemned | |
the Trump administration for with Seoul. | |
“The US’ double-dealing behavior of demanding massive infusions of | |
capital from Korea, only to use immigration raids to intimidate the | |
companies making these investments, is extremely regrettable,” the | |
paper noted. | |
“It was like ‘a slap in the face’ moment,” Choi Jong Kun, South | |
Korea’s former First Vice Foreign Minister, told CNN. | |
“Those plants didn’t have to be built there. They were built | |
because the US wanted them,” he added. “And yet to say Korean | |
workers must be replaced with American workers for facility | |
construction – I see that as completely out of touch with reality.” | |
Choi emphasized the temporary nature of South Koreans’ work to set up | |
factories in the US: “They have no intention to stay.” | |
Questions about visa status | |
It has been common practice for South Korean nationals to perform this | |
type of work at US plants and factories, but the battery plant raid | |
seems to reflect a different enforcement of visa rules, said Cho, the | |
law professor. | |
Cho said South Korean workers have long worked under visa arrangements | |
similar to those detained in Georgia and pointed to the ongoing problem | |
of the US approving too few business visas. | |
“Although it wasn’t strictly in compliance with the rules and | |
regulations, everybody basically had turned a blind eye to it because | |
of the shortage of H1 visas,” Cho said, referring to longer-term US | |
business visas. | |
Lawyers for some of the detained workers insist their clients were | |
legally working on the Georgia site. | |
Immigration attorney Charles Kuck told CNN that two detained workers | |
he’s representing were authorized to work under a visa waiver. One | |
arrived in the US near the end of August, and the other arrived several | |
weeks ago, Kuck said, noting both are engineers who came to the US | |
“to advise briefly on the work” being done at the site. | |
Kuck said his clients “had a specific time they were going to be here | |
and leave, for a specific task that they were assigned to do here as | |
part of their company’s contract with Hyundai.” | |
Some US lawmakers have recently pushed to address the lack of visas for | |
South Korean workers. A bill called the was introduced in the House in | |
July by California Rep. Young Kim, a Republican. | |
The bill would carve out “15,000 E-4 highly skilled work visas for | |
Korean nationals with specialized education or expertise, provided that | |
potential employers ensure the visa holders are not hired for positions | |
that American workers could fill,” according to a statement about the | |
bill from Kim’s office. | |
The bill since being referred to the Judiciary Committee after it was | |
introduced. | |
Pending business | |
South Korea still has major unfinished business with Washington. In | |
July, announced a that includes $350 billion in investments in the US | |
by South Korea, but the details are still being worked out. | |
The aim of the agreement, CNN Senior Business Writer Allison Morrow | |
wrote in a Tuesday analysis, is largely to create more jobs for | |
Americans –– . | |
“Companies often want to – or even need to – bring in their own | |
workers to set up shop, install proprietary equipment, and train the | |
less-skilled hourly employees who’ll be running things day to day,” | |
Morrow wrote. | |
Chang Sang-sik, head of research at the Korea International Trade | |
Association, told the Financial Times that the US government | |
“It is asking Korea to invest more in the US, while treating Korean | |
workers like criminals even when it is well aware that they are needed | |
for these projects to happen,” Chang said. | |
On Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called the detention | |
of workers in Georgia “unjust infringements on the activities of our | |
people and businesses” and said he hopes such practices “will not | |
happen again.” | |
But reacting with indignation has not been an option for Lee. Instead, | |
his administration has stressed efforts to rapidly diffuse the | |
situation. | |
South Korean officials are acutely aware of the US defense presence | |
within the South’s borders. Approximately 28,500 American troops are | |
stationed across South Korea, a protective force against neighboring | |
nuclear-armed North Korea. | |
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