South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in the US state of Georgia are to be released and flown home.

US immigration authorities said on Friday that they had detained 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals, when hundreds of federal agents raided Hyundai’s sprawling manufacturing site in Georgia, where the Korean automaker makes electric vehicles.

The Pew Research Center, citing preliminary Census Bureau data, said the US labour force lost more than 1.2 million immigrants from January through July.

  • Lee Duna@lemmy.nzOPEnglish
    622·
    19 hours ago

    from another source

    Some of the detainees had entered the country unlawfully, while others arrived on temporary visas or through a waiver program that does not allow employment, according to Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent of Homeland Security Investigations.

    Attorney Charles Kuck, who represents two detained workers, told AP his clients arrived under the visa waiver program and were in the country legally for tourism or business. He said one had been in the U.S. for only two weeks and the other for 45 days, both planning to return home soon.

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson Lindsay Williams told AP that some individuals were detained due to prior criminal records and added, “Once citizens have identified themselves, we have no authority” to detain them. Hyundai stated Friday that it believed none of its direct employees were among those detained and said it was reviewing its practices to ensure legal compliance by contractors and subcontractors.

    • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      1·
      31 minutes ago

      Hyundai stated Friday that it believed none of its direct employees were among those detained and said it was reviewing its practices to ensure legal compliance by contractors and subcontractors.

      Wow such a typical big corpo move. Hundreds of people working for Hyundai, none employed by them. Legal issues can be punted to contractors, while they review themselves real hard (they promise).

    • Warl0k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
      39·
      18 hours ago

      Thank you! That’s… not much better, but at least it hasn’t gotten quite as bad as it’s going to…?

      sigh. This shit is so fucking exhausting. just. fuck.

      • Lee Duna@lemmy.nzOPEnglish
        341·
        18 hours ago

        Using falsely visas is SK’s fault, but raiding $7.6 billion plant with excessive force is too much. They could have given a warning and time to clear up the visa paperwork beforehand, but they didn’t.

    • taiyang@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      14 hours ago

      Appreciate the context. Still feels excessive, but at least more warranted than a lot of their other activities. I really hope they just go after corporations, but I doubt they will.