Departure timeline for Korean workers detained in immigration raid uncertain after flight canceled

Audio By Carbonatix

ATLANTA (AP) — After the detention of more than 300 South Korean workers in an immigration raid at a Georgia battery plant last week, a charter plane arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday to bring them home. But its scheduled return carrying the workers in the afternoon was canceled, an airport spokesperson said.

The Koreans were among some 475 workers detained during last week's raid at the battery factory under construction on the campus of Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant west of Savannah.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Seoul and Washington were discussing details for the workers' return. The State Department says Secretary of State Marco Rubio and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun highlighted the U.S.-South Korea alliance and strong relationship at a hastily arranged meeting Wednesday. In a statement that did not mention the arrests, the department said the meeting focused on strengthening bilateral ties and underscoring the importance of the alliance between Washington and Seoul.

Here are some things to know about the raid and its aftermath.

A Korean Air Boeing 747-8i departed from Seoul for the U.S. to bring back the detained Korean workers and landed in Atlanta on Wednesday. It remained unclear when the plane would make a return flight with the workers on board.

“As of now, it is canceled. We don’t have any further updates right now,” airport spokesperson Jennifer Walters said via email.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry had said earlier that the plane could not depart from the U.S. on Wednesday as South Korea had hoped due to an unspecified reason involving the U.S. side.

The workers were being held at an immigration detention center in Folkston, in southeast Georgia, near the state line with Florida. It’s a 285-mile (460-kilometer) drive from there to Atlanta. Three buses were parked at the detention center Wednesday.

South Korean officials said they’ve been negotiating with the U.S. to win “voluntary” departures for the workers, rather than deportations that could make them ineligible to return to the U.S. for up to 10 years.

South Korean TV showed Cho Ki-joong, consul general at the Korean Embassy in Washington, speaking outside the detention center. He said some administrative steps remained to be completed but that things were going smoothly. The South Korean Foreign Ministry declined to comment on media reports that he and other diplomats met with detained workers.

U.S. authorities have said that those detained during the raid were “unlawfully working” at the plant. But Charles Kuck, a lawyer representing several of the detained South Koreans, said the “vast majority” of the workers from South Korea were doing work that is authorized under the B-1 business visitor visa program.

A B-1 visitor for business visa allows foreign workers to stay for up to six months, getting reimbursed for expenses while collecting a paycheck back home. There are limits — for example, they can supervise construction projects but can’t build anything themselves — but if it’s spelled out in a contract, they can install equipment, Los Angeles immigration lawyer Angelo Paparelli said.

Also, South Korea is one of 41 countries whose citizens can use the U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which provides a visa waiver if they can provide “a legitimate reason’’ for their visit, and this basically gives them B-1 visa status for up to 90 days, said immigration attorney Rita Sostrin in Los Angeles.

The raid targeted one of the Georgia's largest and most high-profile manufacturing sites, touted by the governor and other officials as the largest economic development project in state history. Hyundai Motor Group began manufacturing EVs a year ago at the $7.6 billion plant, which employs about 1,200 people.

In a statement Wednesday, the governor's office stressed its “strong relationship with the Republic of Korea and Korean partners like Hyundai, stretching back 40 years to the establishment of Georgia's trad office in Seoul.”

“We are thankful they are reiterating their commitment to adhere to all state and federal laws, just as we remain committed to not allowing this unfortunate incident to undo the decades of mutually beneficial partnerships we've built together,” a spokesperson said.

___

Bynum reported from Folkston, Georgia. Associated Press writers Hyung-Jin Kim in Seoul, Didi Tang and Paul Wiseman in Washington and Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed.