Immigrant rights leaders denounce largest immigration raid in DHS history

On September 4, 2025, federal agents carried out the largest single-site immigration enforcement action in US history, raiding the Hyundai–LG electric vehicle battery plant under construction in Ellabell, Georgia.

Authorities detained nearly 475 workers, approximately 300 being South Korean nationals. The raid, led by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) alongside other federal and state agencies, has not only disrupted the USD 7.6 billion project slated to power Hyundai’s US EV expansion but it has also sparked a diplomatic dispute with South Korea, which is now negotiating the release and repatriation of its citizens. After the raid, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun departed for the US on Monday to oversee the return of the detained workers. 

Immigrant rights leaders have heavily denounced the massive raid. “The circumstances of the raid were just absolutely abusive, not only in their scope and just the sheer size of it, but the way that the folks at the Hyundai plant were treated by law enforcement,” Meredyth Yoon of the Atlanta chapter of the civil rights organization Asian Americans Advancing Justice told Democracy Now! “It is disturbing to see hundreds of people arrested, shackled at their waist and ankles, and loaded into buses and taken to an abusive detention center.” 

“This raid is not an isolated incident. It is part of a dangerous, escalating pattern of government agencies abducting people from schools, neighborhoods, airports, and workplaces with growing impunity. If workers fear going to their jobs, there will be instability across industries and daily life,” reads a joint statement signed by a variety of immigrant rights and Asian American groups, including Migrant Equity Southeast, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta, and Asians are Strong. “This week it was Hyundai’s and LG Energy Solution plant workers. Tomorrow, it could be any one of us – because we have already seen at scale the efforts to chip away at our collective civil liberties.”

Immigration crackdowns vs. industrial growth

The Trump administration has publicly pushed for increased hiring of US-born workers. “Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so. What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers,” Trump wrote on Truth Social following the raid. 

Trump also told reporters on Sunday, September 7 that “If you don’t have people in this country right now that know about batteries, maybe we should help them along… So, we’re going to look at that whole situation. We have a lot of industries that we don’t have any more, and we’re going to have to train people.”

Some have called into question how such raids further Trump’s stated goals of bolstering US manufacturing. “Even if ICE was targeting genuine illegal work in Georgia last week, the manner in which it did so will do more harm than good to Trump’s hopes of sparking a manufacturing boom,” reads a Financial Times article from Tuesday, September 9. “The US manufacturing and construction sectors are desperately short of workers. Few US workers are willing to do manual tasks on sites, and many lack the skills and expertise needed in today’s advanced sectors, such as semiconductor and battery making.” 

Outrage in South Korea

Media coverage across South Korea’s political spectrum heavily denounced the raid. South Korea’s largest newspapers and news outlets criticized the US for damaging economic ties and public trust. Chosun Ilbo, the country’s largest conservative daily, blasted the raid as a “merciless arrest operation,” denouncing it as “something that should never happen between allies” and a “serious breach of trust,” as well as noted that Trump had personally thanked Hyundai’s chairman only months earlier. 

Hankyoreh, a prominent left-leaning Korean outlet, pointed out inconsistencies regarding how the US treats immigrant workers from different countries: “Since the two countries signed a free trade agreement in 2012, Korea has persistently asked the US to increase its visa quota for Korean professionals to work in the country to 15,000, up from the current 2,000. While the US already implements annual professional visa quotas with other FTA partners like Australia, which receives up to 10,500 visas per year, a similar program has not been put in place for Korea.”