The work has paused on the American site of Hyundai after hundreds of workers are held in raid

Hundreds of workers from an installation of Hyundai Motor during Georgia were held during a major raid by the American authorities, forcing a break in the construction of a car battery plant which is part of a major investment in the State by the Korean car manufacturer.

The RAID Thursday has made a setback to a project that should start to operate at the end of the year, and highlights an increasing repression of the Trump administration on immigrants and its disruptive impact on businesses, even if the White House tries to stimulate more foreign investor entries.

The arrests also threaten to roll the relationship between Washington and Seoul, a key ally and an investor in the United States. The two countries have disagreed on the details of a trade agreement which includes $ 350 billion in investments.

Last month, South Korea promised $ 150 billion in American investments, including 26 billion US dollars from Hyundai Motor, at a summit between the two.

The South Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “many of our nationals” were detained during the operation by the American immigration authorities and expressed themselves in concern about its impact.

“The economic activities of our businesses that invest in the United States and the interests of our citizens should not be unduly raped during the American police,” the spokesman Lee Jae-Woong said on Friday in a statement.

An agent of the US Department of Internal Security (DHS) said that several American agencies “had carried out an application of the law authorized by the courts, because we actively carry out an investigation into illegal employment practices”.

“Arrests are underway,” said Steven Schrank, a special agent in charge of internal security surveys for Georgia, in a press conference broadcast on American television.

The Atlanta office of the American agency of the Ministry of Justice ATF said that up to 450 people had been detained in a position on X.

An official of the South Korean government said they were detained in a detention center for immigration and customs (ICE) in the United States.

The Korea Economic Daily later reported that around 560 Hyundai Motor Facility and LG Energy Solution (LGS) workers had been detained, citing unidentified industry sources. Some 300 are South Korean nationals, according to local media reports.

A spokesperson for Hyundai-Ga Battery Company said in a statement that she was fully co-opted and that she had interrupted construction work. The installation, a joint venture between the manufacturer of South Korean Loges batteries and Hyundai Motor, was to start operations at the end of this year, according to Lges.

Hyundai Motor said its production of electric vehicles on the sprawling site was not affected.

LG Energy Solution said in a statement that it “cooperated closely with the South Korean government and the relevant authorities to ensure the safety of our employees and entrepreneurs, and to obtain their rapid release of detention”.

LEGS shares dropped by 2.3%.

The biggest investments in Georgia

In 2023, Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution announced the company of $ 4.3 billion to produce EV battery cells, each company holding a 50%stake. The plant will provide batteries for Hyundai, Kia and Genesis EV models.

The battery is part of the investments of 12.6 billion dollars in Hyundai in the state, including the car factory which has just opened the automaker, in what would be “the largest economic development project, opens a new tab in state history”.

Video sequences on social networks have shown a man wearing a vest with HSI letters, acronym for internal security surveys, indicating yellow safety vests: “We have a search warrant for the whole site. We need construction to stop immediately. We need all the work to finish on the site now.”

Under President Donald Trump, the Customs Immigration and Application Agency, which is part of the Ministry of Homeland Security, has become the driving force of the radical repression of the republican leader against migrants, reinforced by record funding and new latitude to make raids.

Trump said he wanted to expel “the worst of the worst” criminals, but ice figures showed an increase in non-criminals. Defenders of rights denounced these raids.