In major immigration enforcement op, nearly 450 ‘unlawful aliens’ detained from Hyundai Motor’s Georgia site

The operation comes amid US President Donald Trump administration’s clampdown on illegal immigration since he took office in January 2025.

“Today, @ATFAtlanta joined HSI, FBI, DEA, ICE, GSP and other agencies in a major immigration enforcement operation at the Hyundai mega site battery plant in Bryan County, GA, leading to the apprehension of ~450 unlawful aliens, emphasizing our commitment to community safety,” the official account for ATF’s Atlanta Field Division posted on X (formerly Twitter).

The site has been touted by US officials as “the largest economic development project in the state’s history,” the report noted, highlighting the Hyundai Motor Group started manufacturing EVs a year ago at the $7.6 billion plant, which employs about 1,200 people.

As per a Korean news report quoted by Reuters, the raids led to the detention of 30 South Korean nationals at the facility, which is a joint venture production site of battery maker LG Energy Solution, and Hyundai Motor.

The raid also led to the closure of construction at an adjacent factory being built to produce EV batteries, AP report added.

‘We need all work to end right now’: HSI

The Department of Homeland Security, in a statement, shared that agents executed a search warrant “as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes.”

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Lindsay Williams confirmed that federal authorities were conducting an enforcement operation at the 3,000-acre (1,214-hectare) site west of Savannah, focusing on the construction site of the battery plant, according to AP.

Video shared over social media showed workers in yellow safety vests lined up as a man wearing a face mask and a tactical vest with the letters HSI (Homeland Security Investigations), stated: “We’re Homeland Security. We have a search warrant for the whole site.”

“We need construction to cease immediately… We need all work to end on the site right now,” the man told the workers.

“Arrests are being made,” Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Georgia, Reuters reported quoting a news briefing aired on local US television channel.

As part of the investigation, Georgia State Patrol troopers blocked roads to the Hyundai site, AP news reported, while the Georgia Department of Public Safety confirmed they were dispatched to assist federal authorities.

Hyundai’s response

Hyundai’s joint venture, HL-GA Battery Company, “is cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities,” the company said in a statement.

“To assist their work, we have paused construction.”

The operations at Hyundai’s EV manufacturing plant were not interrupted, plant spokesperson Bianca Johnson said via email.

“This did not impact people getting to work,” Johnson added. “Production and normal office hours had already begun for the day” when authorities shut down access, he said.

Trump’s immigration policies

A new study by the Pew Research Center released in August showed a fall in the immigrant population of the United States, which had been growing for the last 50 years, by over a million people.

This comes after President Donald Trump took office in January for his second tenure and his administration defined illegal immigration as a threat to the nation with severe crackdown against it, The Guardian reported.

The survey by Pew also highlighted that 750,000 immigrant workers had dropped out of the US labour force since January when Trump took oath of office, and the labour force is now 19 per cent foreign born, as quoted in The Indian Express.

As part of the crackdown, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been carrying out several immigration raids across the country and detaining suspects leading to protests and demonstrations against the Republican government in multiple cities.

In August, the US state department announced the review of the records of 55 million foreign citizens with visas allowing them to visit or reside temporarily in the US for potential revocation.