Roughly 500 employees were detained during a raid at Hyundai's battery factory, leaving the usually bustling Georgia town in an eerily quiet state.
In the small town of Ellabell, Georgia, a sense of unease has settled over the community following a significant immigration raid at the local Hyundai-LG battery plant. The raid, which took place earlier this year, resulted in the arrest of 475 individuals, with more than 300 of them being Korean citizens who will be returned to South Korea on a chartered flight.
The Hyundai-LG battery plant, a massive automobile complex and the first fully electrified vehicle and battery manufacturing campus in the United States, has been a beacon of opportunity for the town. However, the raid has exposed the tenuous nature of the promise of 8,500 jobs, built on layers of subcontractors, visa-restricted technicians, and a community that has not yet fully integrated the project into its daily life.
Viet Huong Supermarket, a grocery store catering to the labor force, has experienced a significant drop in Korean customers after the raid. The current workforce is transient, consisting of single men on temporary visas or contracts, who rotate through for months at a time. The disruption caused by the raid is felt differently in Ellabell, as the workforce is more temporary, and the shock lands differently.
Among those detained were 23 Mexican nationals, according to the Mexican Consul General's office in Atlanta. Most of those detained decided to sign voluntary releases to return to Mexico in the next few days. The companies involved in the Hyundai project, under ICE investigation for labor law violations and serious crimes, include Hyundai, several subcontractors, and labor suppliers, though specific company names have not been publicly disclosed.
Family members and friends of the detainees have struggled to find out where they have been taken. Federal officials insist their probe targeted "unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes," but no charges have been announced against the companies. Some of the arrested individuals had crossed into the US unlawfully, others had overstayed visas, and some were on visa waivers that do not permit employment.
The $4.3 billion Hyundai-LG project remains frozen, with Hyundai investigating contractors' practices and LG Energy Solution suspending most of its US business trips. Construction at the 2,900-acre site stopped after the raid. Protesters gathered outside the Hyundai megasite with signs in English and Korean, urging for the detained workers to be returned home and for an end to mass deportations.
South Korea's government has expressed concerns and regret over the treatment of Korean nationals involved in US investment projects. They plan to review and improve the visa system and stay status of people traveling to the US for such projects. The question now is not just when construction resumes but whether the bridge between the plant and the community can be built on steadier ground. In Ellabell, where golf courses and canoe outposts define the local economy, the megasite looms both as a beacon of opportunity and a source of tension.
