South Korean workers detained in immigration raid leave Atlanta and head home

Source: AP

By KATE BRUMBACK and KIM TONG-HYUNG
Updated 11:18 AM CDT, September 11, 2025

ATLANTA (AP) — A plane carrying more than 300 workers from South Korea who were detained during an immigration raid at a battery factory in Georgia last week left Atlanta shortly before noon Thursday, bound for South Korea.

The workers traveled by bus from a detention center in southeast Georgia to Atlanta earlier in the day for their flight, which is expected to land in South Korea on Friday afternoon. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the detainees released by U.S. authorities included 316 Koreans, 10 Chinese nationals, three Japanese nationals and one Indonesian.

The workers were among about 475 people detained during last week’s raid at the battery factory under construction on the campus of Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant west of Savannah. They had been held at an immigration detention center in Folkston, 285 miles (460 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta.

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday called for improvements to the United States’ visa system, saying Korean companies will likely hesitate to make new investments in the U.S. until that happens.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/immigration-raid-south-korea-going-home-f93505321ddf511d5ae6f0949f75726d