A massive immigration raid at Hyundai‘s Georgia battery plant will delay production by at least three months, threatening thousands of jobs and billions in investment while straining relations between the United States and South Korea.
Hyundai CEO José Muñoz said Thursday the startup of the $4.3 billion battery manufacturing facility faces a “minimum two to three months delay” after ICE agents detained 475 workers, mostly South Korean nationals, in what officials called the largest single-site immigration enforcement operation in US history.
The September 4 raid has halted construction at the joint venture between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, part of a $7.6 billion manufacturing complex that Georgia officials had touted as the largest economic development project in state history. “The technical experts installing and validating the equipment have left,” Muñoz told reporters in Detroit.
The delays threaten the plant’s timeline to employ up to 8,500 workers at full capacity. LG Energy Solution has suspended most US business trips and dispatched its chief human resources officer from South Korea to Georgia to manage the crisis. The battery facility had already been pushed back to 2026 due to market conditions before the raid created additional uncertainty.
The ICE raid has created diplomatic tensions, with Seoul arranging a charter flight to return more than 300 detained nationals. South Korea’s foreign minister is weighing a meeting with Trump administration officials. “We are deeply concerned and feel a heavy sense of responsibility over the arrests of our nationals,” Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said at an emergency meeting in Seoul.
In Ellabell, located about 25 miles west of Savannah, the delays threaten promised economic benefits for Bryan County, where officials projected the facility would generate nearly 40,000 direct and indirect jobs.
“The case demonstrates how tough it has become for Korean companies to make money from the investments in the US,” said Kang DaeKwun, chief investment officer at Life Asset Management Inc.
Federal authorities said the operation targeted “unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes,” though no corporate charges have been filed. Most detained workers were employed by subcontractors rather than Hyundai directly.
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