Multinational companies with foreign employees in the US have sought legal advice and paused some travel after federal authorities arrested hundreds of South Korean workers at an electric-car battery plant in Georgia last week.
The detention of 475 people, mostly South Korean nationals, at the Hyundai-LG Energy Solution factory under construction in Ellabell, Georgia, last week represented a new front in the White House’s broad crackdown on illegal immigration.
Video released by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed people shackled at the ankles, wrists and waist outside the plant, which forms part of the Trump administration’s push to expand manufacturing in the country. ICE said that in its execution of a federal warrant it found individuals were “fraudulently using visitors’ visas”.