'Like a war movie': South Korean workers recount horror of Georgia immigration raid

A worker said US government agents had arrived at the raid site in helicopters and armoured vehicles.

A group of South Korean workers who landed at Incheon Airport on Friday after being detained for a week in the United States described their horrific experience during what they called a "military-style" immigration raid at their workplace in Georgia.

Around 475 workers were taken into custody from the Georgia plant, over 300 of them were South Korean nationals.(AP)

The September 6 raid at a battery plant jointly operated by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution turned the spot into what one of the detainees described as “a scene out of a war movie.”

A second worker said US government agents had arrived at the site in helicopters and armoured vehicles and had separated workers according to visa type, arresting those on the ESTA visa-waiver programme or with a B-1 business traveller visa.

"I didn't know when I would actually be able to leave. That was the hardest part," one of the workers told Reuters.

Asked about life at the detention centre in Folkston, Georgia, where they were held, he said: "It was the worst."

The wife of one subcontractor engineer, who gave only her surname Kim, said her husband had been arrested on his first day of work at the site, adding she had believed his B-1 visa status allowed him to work as a supervisor.

She said she now feared that it would be hard for him to get US visas and to make business trips, adding: "I am worried this will ruin his career."

Phones confiscated, water smelled like bleach: South Korean workers

As per the detained workers, their phones were confiscated, leaving many unable to contact their families for days. The sudden silence caused panic among loved ones back home in South Korea.

In all, around 475 workers were taken into custody from the Georgia plant, over 300 of them South Korean nationals, in what US authorities have confirmed was the largest single-site immigration operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) later stated that the workers were detained for violating visa terms.

But the trauma didn’t end with the arrests. Several workers spoke of dire conditions during their week-long detention at the Folkston ICE Processing Centre in Georgia.

“It was the worst,” said one man. “The food was terrible, and the water smelled like bleach.”

The lack of communication, combined with uncertain release timelines amid diplomatic back-and-forth between Seoul and Washington, only deepened the anxiety.

The detension sparked diplomatic discussions between South Korea and the United States and raised fresh concerns over Korean investment in the US.