HANDCUFF SHOCK
South Koreans made up the majority of the 475 people arrested at the Hyundai-LG battery plant under construction in Georgia last week, according to immigration agents.
The operation was the largest single-site raid conducted since US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping immigration crackdown, a top political priority since he returned to office in January.
The raid came less than a month after Trump welcomed President Lee to the White House.
Images of the workers being chained and handcuffed have caused widespread alarm in South Korea, and Seoul had negotiated to make sure the workers were not handcuffed again as they were repatriated, Lee said.
“President Trump reportedly ordered: ‘Let them return freely. If someone doesn’t want to go, they don’t have to,” President Lee said.
The repatriation was briefly delayed by Trump asking whether the workers should remain stateside, a Seoul foreign ministry official in Washington said.
However, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said that “given the workers’ shock and exhaustion, it would be best for them to return home first and then re-enter the US for work later”.
A Korean Air Boeing 747-8I left Seoul on Wednesday, a company representative told AFP.
President Lee said the workers were “scheduled to depart the detention facility at 3pm, Seoul time (2pm, Singapore time) today”.
Source: CNA
