Construction at a Hyundai–LG electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia will be delayed until the first half of 2026 following a massive immigration raid that detained hundreds of South Korean workers, officials said Friday, while protesters in Seoul demanded President Donald Trump issue a formal apology.
Hyundai CEO José Muñoz initially said Wednesday the raid would cause a two-to-three-month delay. But LG Energy Solution announced Thursday that the company will not resume work at the $7.6 billion facility until early 2026.
Read: Hyundai Battery Plant Delays Ripple Through Georgia Economy, US-South Korea Relations
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This new timeline threatens to disrupt South Korea’s $350 billion investment pledge to the United States and has sparked the most serious diplomatic tensions between the allies.
ICE agents arrested 475 people at the construction site on September 4 in what officials called the largest single-site enforcement operation in the agency’s history. More than 300 were South Korean nationals who had been installing specialized equipment at the battery plant.
Images of the workers being led away in handcuffs and shackles triggered widespread outrage in South Korea. Protesters gathered outside the US Embassy in Seoul this week carrying signs reading “Trump, apologize!” while lawmakers demanded a formal expression of regret from the US president.
“Are we giving our money, technology, and investment to the United States only to be treated like this?” South Korean lawmaker Kim Joon-hyun asked during a parliamentary session.
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South Korea announced Monday it will examine potential human rights abuses against its workers during the enforcement operation. President Lee Jae Myung called the operation an “unjust infringement” and warned it could discourage future Korean investment in the United States.
US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau traveled to South Korea and expressed regret over the detentions, according to South Korean news outlets. Trump, responding to the diplomatic fallout Sunday, said foreign workers were “welcome” in America and that he didn’t want to “frighten off or disincentivize investment.”
The raid came just 11 days after Trump and Lee met at the White House, where South Korean firms pledged additional investments in US manufacturing as part of a broader trade agreement.
Federal authorities claimed the Korean nationals had violated visa terms, either by overstaying permitted visits or performing unauthorized work on business visas. The workers were released on Thursday and flown home on a charter flight after a week in detention.
The Hyundai facility is Georgia’s largest economic development project and was expected to employ 8,500 workers when fully operational. The company said it remains committed to its US investments despite the disruption.
Korean companies are freezing employee travel to America and suspending US manufacturing projects over concerns about additional raids, according to industry reports.
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