ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has learned that some of the South Korean nationals who were deported following a massive ICE raid at a South Georgia battery plant in September have started returning to the U.S. to work on the construction of the factory.
One of the people detained during the raid told ABC News that at least 50 engineers who were removed have re-entered the U.S. as of Nov. 15.
Nearly 200 of the detainees are also planning to sue Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “alleging unlawful policing, racial profiling, human rights violations, excessive force and unlawful arrest,” ABC reported.
In September, ICE raided the Hyundai plant, detaining 475 people, with 300 South Korean nationals among them.
After making an agreement with the South Korean government, U.S. immigration officials sent the detained Korean nationals back to their native country without being charged.
They flew out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Sept. 11 and made it back to South Korea by Sept. 12.
Their roundup and the U.S. release of video showing some Korean workers shackled with chains around their hands, ankles, and waists caused public outrage and a sense of betrayal in South Korea, a key U.S. ally.
The battery plant, a joint venture between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, is one of more than 20 major industrial sites that South Korean companies are currently building in the United States. They include other battery factories in Georgia and several other states, a semiconductor plant in Texas, and a shipbuilding project in Philadelphia, a sector Trump has frequently highlighted in relation to South Korea.
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Federal officials called it the “largest, single-site enforcement operation in the history of homeland security investigations.”
South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told ABC News that the U.S. and South Korea are still working to fix the visa system between the two countries.
“Employees of LG Energy Solution and its partners are traveling to, or will travel to, HL-GA and other U.S. production facilities that are currently operating or under construction, with plans to expand the business travel gradually,” the company said in a statement to ABC News.
The State Department would not comment on details of individual visas, but said in a statement: “What we’re talking about here is foreign workers with very specialized skills coming to the United States for a short time to train up American workers before returning to their own country, so we can increase job opportunities for Americans.”
“The Department is implementing the President’s commitment to the reindustrialization of America by facilitating legitimate business travel and foreign direct investment,” the statement continued, adding that the U.S. is coordinating closely with the South Korean government and facilitating visas tied to Korean investments.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly defended bringing immigrants with specialized skills to the U.S. to help build battery factories. In a Fox News interview earlier this month, he argued that battery production is “very complicated” and “very dangerous,” and that South Korean engineers have been “making batteries all their lives.”
Trump’s defense of H-1B visas and remarks that the U.S. doesn’t have people with “certain talents” to fill jobs have sparked backlash from parts of his MAGA base.
On Monday, Trump again referenced the Georgia raid, claiming he told DHS to “stop” the action against the workers.
“We had one case in Georgia with a battery factory… they brought in, they spent a billion dollars to build a factory, and they were told to get out,” Trump said. “And I said, ‘Stop it. Don’t be stupid.’ And we worked it out, and now they’re teaching our people how to do it.”
The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this article.
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