An Atlanta lawyer representing seven South Korean workers and five others who were detained last Thursday during a massive raid led by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a $4.3bn EV battery plant under construction in Georgia has told GCR that ICE’s actions broke federal law.
ICE detained 475 workers, whom the agency claims were working illegally at the site, including 300 South Korean nationals.
Charles H. Kuck, founding partner of Atlanta law firm Kuck Baxter, said his clients detained in the raid on the plant being developed by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution in Ellabell, 25 miles west of Savannah, included two PhDs, two engineers, and two project directors, all of whom had appropriate visas for the work they were doing.
“People don’t understand … this plant is being built, being built with equipment from outside the United States, thus requiring technicians and installers and engineers from outside the United States who are the experts on this product, products which they don’t make in America,” he said in an interview today (9 September).
“ICE knows that they are detaining people that did not violate their status. That is a violation of federal law,” he added.
