A sweeping immigration raid at Hyundai’s massive EV campus outside Savannah turned a sprawling construction zone into a federal dragnet, with about 475 workers detained by ICE in what officials say is the largest single-site enforcement action in Homeland Security Investigations’ history. Early tallies put the figure closer to 450, but by Friday, authorities said 475 people were in custody, most of them South Korean nationals working for layers of subcontractors at the site.
Agents from multiple federal agencies swarmed the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America property in Ellabell, Georgia, roughly 25 miles west of Savannah, shutting down access roads and ordering crews to stop work while they executed a search warrant.
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. #ATF pic.twitter.com/su6raLrLu6
— ATF Atlanta (@ATFAtlanta) September 4, 2025
The raid, part of a months-long investigation into alleged unlawful employment practices, targeted the adjacent Hyundai-LG Energy Solution battery project, not Hyundai’s already-operating EV assembly plant. Construction on the battery site was paused to aid the probe; Hyundai’s main factory operations continued.
At a news conference, HSI Special Agent in Charge Steven Schrank called it the agency’s biggest single-site operation ever and said the majority detained were Koreans who either overstayed visas or were not authorized to work in the U.S. “This operation underscores our commitment to protecting jobs for Georgians and Americans,” he said. No criminal charges were announced as of Friday, officials said.
The scale of the action stunned observers and sent ripples far beyond Georgia. The South Korean Foreign Ministry raised concerns and dispatched diplomats, urging U.S. authorities to ensure the rights of Korean nationals are respected. The raid also lands at a sensitive moment for U.S.–Korea business ties, given the billions in Korean investment pouring into American battery and semiconductor plants.
How stupid is this?
Hyundai is building an $8 billion factory in Georgia, and ICE is imprisoning company staff who are on business trips from South Korea.
So much for investing in manufacturing! pic.twitter.com/KOWA2kQ4O2
— Paul Novosad (@paulnovosad) September 5, 2025
Georgia has touted Hyundai’s project, tagged at about $7.6 billion, as the state’s crown-jewel manufacturing win, expected to create thousands of jobs. Thursday’s enforcement sweep put that boosterism on pause. Video from the site showed lines of hard-hat workers as agents invoked a search warrant and ordered construction halted. State troopers blocked nearby roads while federal teams, ICE, Border Patrol, ATF, FBI, DEA, IRS, and more, fanned across the 3,000-acre campus.
Unions and immigrant advocates blasted the move as political theater that terrorizes workers while letting higher-ups off the hook. Hyundai and HL-GA Battery Company (the Hyundai-LG joint venture) said they are cooperating fully with authorities. Crucially, officials emphasized that none of those detained were direct Hyundai employees; they were tied to a web of contractors and subcontractors, a common arrangement on megaproject build-outs that can become a compliance minefield.
Over 450 illegal immigrants were apprehended at a Hyundai plant in Georgia.
The real question: Why was Hyundai employing them in the first place?
Illegal immigration is not “compassionate” and it’s not a pathway to the American Dream, it’s modern-day labor trafficking and human… pic.twitter.com/1WetbzjyEp
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) September 5, 2025
The enforcement push fits a broader worksite-crackdown pattern: federal agents have increasingly targeted farms, warehouses, food processing plants, and construction sites as part of a stated agenda to tighten workplace verification and pursue labor trafficking rings that exploit unauthorized workers. Whether this operation results in prosecutions of workers, recruiters, or corporate entities remains to be seen, but officials described it as an ongoing criminal investigation rather than a one-off sweep.
A mega-project that symbolizes America’s EV future just collided with a show of force on immigration. For Hyundai’s Georgia buildout, the headlines aren’t about shiny new battery lines; they’re about buses of detainees, paused construction, and an unprecedented raid that could reshape how big industrial worksites police their labor pipelines.
Keep it going!