How an ICE Raid Caused a Diplomatic Incident With a U.S. Ally Rebecca SchneidSeptember 7, 2025 at 9:42 PM 23 US President Donald Trump, left, greets Lee Jae Myung, South Korea's president, outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025.
- - How an ICE Raid Caused a Diplomatic Incident With a U.S. Ally
Rebecca SchneidSeptember 7, 2025 at 9:42 PM
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US President Donald Trump, left, greets Lee Jae Myung, South Korea's president, outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. Trump blasted South Korea for political instability, foreshadowing a potentially rocky visit by the country's president to the White House to discuss its framework trade and investment agreement with the US. Credit - Al Drago—© 2025 Bloomberg Finance LP
The arrest of hundreds of South Korean nationals in a sweeping immigration raid in Georgia on Thursday has caused a diplomatic spat between the United States and one of its key allies in Asia.
Just two weeks after South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and President Donald Trump met at the White House to celebrate a trade deal that included $350 billion worth of investment in the United States, more than 300 Korean citizens were detained at a Hyundai plant near Savannah.
It was the largest single-site enforcement operation ever carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to date, and it caused shockwaves in Seoul. The next two days saw a flurry of diplomatic activity in response to the raid.
President Lee held an emergency meeting, and the country's Foreign Minister, Cho Hyun, called a press conference to announce he was "deeply concerned" about the operation. Cho said President Lee had ordered "all-out efforts" to support the arrested South Koreans, and that Lee had "emphasized that in the course of U.S. law enforcement, the rights of our people and the economic activities of South Korean investors in the U.S. must not be unjustly infringed upon."
Read More: Exclusive: Lee Jae-myung Aims to Steer South Korea Past Its Moment of Crisis and Mounting Challenges
"We will discuss sending a senior Foreign Ministry official to the site without delay, and, if necessary, I will personally travel to Washington to hold consultations with the U.S. administration," Cho told reporters on Saturday.
The next day, presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said the government had negotiated the release of the workers with the U.S. and was chartering a plane to repatriate the 300 workers.
South Korea has been a staunch economic and strategic ally of the United States in recent years, bolstered by a recent trade deal with President Donald Trump in which it pledged to invest $350 billion in the U.S., including major commitments in sectors like shipbuilding, electric vehicle batteries, and technology. Lee and Trump's meeting at the White House less than two weeks ago ended with what Trump described as a "full and complete trade deal" between the two countries.
But Trump's crackdown in Georgia may undo some of that diplomacy, particularly as it targeted South Korea's largest auto manufacturer.
Jang Dong-hyeok, chair of the main opposition People Power Party in Korea, urged President Lee on Saturday to take swift action, citing broader repercussions to other Korean businesses.
"At a time when numerous Korean firms are expanding investment and building factories across the U.S., such mass detentions of workers could pose a serious risk at the national level," he said, according to Korean media. The South Korean government launched an emergency response team on Friday, with consulate officials dispatched to the site of the raid.
The raid also alarmed South Korean company LG Energy Solution (LGES), a battery manufacturer that co-owns the plant, and which announced on Saturday that it was going to suspend employee business travel to the US after 47 of its employees were detained. It also advised any employees in the U.S. to return to South Korea.
When asked if he was worried the raid would harm relations with South Korea, Trump defended ICE.
"I would say that they were illegal aliens, and ICE was just doing its job," he told reporters..
Steven N. Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations in Georgia and Alabama, said in a statement on Saturday that those arrested were either in the country illegally or working unlawfully.
"We welcome all companies who want to invest in the U.S., and if they need to bring workers in for building or other projects, that's fine — but they need to do it the legal way," he said.
Schrank also told reporters at the site on Friday that some U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents had been detained in the raid and were later released. A total of 475 people were arrested at the site.
Kang Hoon-sik, South Korea's Presidential Chief of Staff, said in a televised address that the country would review its visa system to prevent similar mistakes in the future.
"We will not let our guard down until we have our people safely back home," he said.
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Source: "AOL AOL General News"
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