Detainees board a bus, during a raid by federal agents where about 300 South Koreans were among 475 people arrested at the site of a $4.3 billion project by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution to build batteries for electric cars in Ellabell, Georgia, U.S. September 4, 2025 in a still image taken from a video.
U.s. Immigration And Customs Enf | Via Reuters
A plane carrying hundreds of workers who were detained in a U.S. immigration raid at a Hyundai-LG Energy Solution battery plant in Georgia last week departed American airspace on Thursday, bound for South Korea.
More than 300 Koreans were expected aboard the chartered plane that left Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to a statement from South Korea’s Foreign Ministry translated by NBC News.
A South Korean chartered plane transporting workers detained in a huge U.S. immigration raid last week on a car battery plant, taxis on the runway before take off at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Sept. 11, 2025.
Alyssa Pointer | Reuters
The plane was also carrying 14 foreign employees of South Korean companies that were detained.
Thursday’s takeoff marks the latest development in a major diplomatic standoff that has commanded the attention of businesses and politicians in the both the United States and South Korea.
U.S. authorities had a search warrant when entering the plant in Ellabell, Georgia last Thursday. They said the detained workers had either been working or living in the country without legal status.
South Koreans accounted for a majority of the total detentions that took place at the site, which housed a battery plant being built by South Korean companies Hyundai and LG Energy Solution.
Following the raid, Seoul mounted a “whole-of-government response” in collaboration with the impacted companies, according to the translated statement.
“The government will continue to exert its utmost efforts until every Korean national has safely returned home,” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in the statement.
All but one of the South Korean nationals detained by the U.S. in the raid are voluntarily departing on the flight.
A Korean Air charter plane carrying Korean workers detained in immigration raid at Georgia factory leaves Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta bound for South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
George Walker IV | AP
The foreign ministry said it was now working to ensure cooperation between the two governments on visa-related issues going forward.
The raided battery plant will now face a delay of at least two to three months, according to comments from Hyundai CEO Jose Munoz reported by Reuters during an event in Detroit.
Munoz said he was surprised to initially hear that the immigration action took place, given that the use of this type of labor is considered typical when a plant is getting started.
“For the construction phase of the plants, you need to get specialized people,” Munoz reportedly said. “There are a lot of skills and equipment that you cannot find in the United States.”
— CNBC’s Dennis Green and Laya Neelakandan contributed to this report.
