SEOUL — More than 300 South Korean nationals detained during a sweeping immigration raid at a Hyundai-LG battery plant in Georgia will soon be released and repatriated, South Korean officials announced Sunday.
The announcement follows negotiations between Seoul and Washington after the Sept. 4 operation in the town of Ellabell — described as the largest single-site immigration raid under President Donald Trump’s administration. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid shocked South Korean officials, who were caught off guard by the scale and targeting of the operation.
A chartered plane will depart to repatriate the detained South Koreans once administrative procedures are finalized, Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hun-sik said during televised remarks, reported by Reuters.
“As a result of the swift and united response…negotiations for the release of the detained workers have been concluded,” Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Sunday. “Only administrative procedures remain. Once these are completed, a chartered flight will depart to bring our citizens home.”
According to LG Energy Solution, 47 of its employees were arrested — 46 South Koreans and one Indonesian. The company said approximately 250 others taken into custody were believed to work for a contractor and were also mostly South Korean nationals.
Video footage released by U.S. authorities showed workers in handcuffs and ankle chains being loaded onto an inmate transport bus. Many of those detained were reportedly employees of LG Energy Solution or its subcontractors.
In an effort to address the diplomatic fallout, LG Energy executive Kim Ki-soo flew to Georgia on Sunday morning.
“The immediate priority now is the swift release of both our LG Energy Solution employees and those of our partner firms,” Kim told reporters before he boarded the plane.
South Korean officials also expressed regret over the release of the raid footage, viewing it as an unnecessary escalation that undermined trust during sensitive diplomatic engagements.
The raid, code-named “Operation Low Voltage,” followed a months‑long investigation into alleged visa violations and improper employment practices at the EV battery facility. According to U.S. authorities, many of the workers had overstayed visas, worked unlawfully under restricted classifications such as B-1 business visas, or entered the country without authorization.
In response, Hun-sik said the South Korean government would work to improve the visa system for Korean workers traveling to the U.S. to “prevent a similar incident.”
