A convoy of armed federal officers descended on the 3,700-person town of Ellabell, Georgia, on Thursday. Agents from ICE, FBI, DEA, ATF, and the Georgia State Patrol swarmed the construction site of a new factory where Hyundai hopes to build EV batteries. They left with 450 alleged “unlawful aliens.” Many of the suspects are South Korean, sparking a response from the government in Seoul.

Hyundai sells a full range of EVs in the U.S. It even assembles the Ioniq 9 and Ioniq 5 in Georgia. The Biden administration rewrote EV tax credits to urge automakers to assemble EV batteries in the U.S., along with the cars themselves. Hyundai responded by breaking ground on a Georgia battery factory in October 2022. Governor Brian Kemp praised it as “the largest economic development site in the state’s history.” Now, construction has stopped.

The ICE raid on a Hyundai factory construction site

The Department of Homeland Security states, “We are sending a clear and unequivocal message.” Break federal laws and you “will be held accountable.” To that end, it formed a joint task force to execute a search warrant at the site. The warrant was based on “allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes.”

ATF Atlanta says the raid led to “the apprehension of ~450 unlawful aliens, emphasizing our commitment to community safety.” The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution define these detainees as “suspected” unlawful aliens until they receive a fair trial.

Steven Schrank, the Homeland Security special agent in charge of the raid, states that though “we are making many arrests of undocumented individuals, we have encountered many lawful employees working here, United States citizens and lawful permanent residents.”

According to the BBC, some reports place the number of South Koreans arrested in the hundreds. The South Korean foreign ministry calls the arrest an “unjust infringement” on the rights of the South Korean nationals arrested. It warns, “The rights and interests of Korean citizens must not be unfairly infringed upon during US law enforcement operations.” It is sending diplomats to the site.

A Hyundai spokesperson insists the automaker is “committed to abiding by all labor and immigration regulations.”

Who was arrested at the Hyundai plant raid in Georgia?

Besides the ATF’s claim of “the apprehension of ~450 unlawful aliens,” and the fact that some are South Korean, we know little about those detained. Videos taken on-site show workers in hard hats and construction vests being lined up and ordered around.

Hyundai is contracting other companies to build its plant. Most people on-site are not direct Hyundai employees. That said, Hyundai likely asked some of its South Korean battery specialists to consult on the Georgia project. If any Hyundai employees were here temporarily, a visa hiccup could be a simple clerical error.

President Biden’s Department of Labor sued Hyundai in 2022 after discovering a 13-year-old girl working illegally at its Alabama factory. Hyundai said it contracts another company to run the plant and screen employees. However, that company is a wholly owned Hyundai subsidiary.