Savannah, Ga. — U.S. immigration authorities on Thursday raided the sprawling site where Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles in southeast Georgia, conducting a search that shut down construction on an adjacent factory being built to produce EV batteries.
In a post on X, the Atlanta office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it “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 operation targeted one of Georgia’s largest and most high-profile manufacturing sites, touted by the governor and other officials as the biggest economic development project in the state’s history. Hyundai Motor Group began manufacturing EVs a year ago at the $7.6 billion plant, which employs about 1,200 people.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Lindsay Williams confirmed that federal authorities were conducting an enforcement operation at the 3,000-acre site west of Savannah. He said agents were focused on the construction site for the battery plant.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that agents executed a search warrant “as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes.”
The South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement that, “The economic activities of Korean investment companies and the rights and interests of Korean citizens must not be unfairly infringed upon during U.S. law enforcement operations.
“We are actively responding to this incident by dispatching the Consul General of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul and the Consulate General in Atlanta to the site and instructing the formation of an on-site response team centered around the local embassy.
“In Seoul, we also conveyed our concerns and regrets today through the U.S. Embassy in Korea and urged them to exercise extreme caution to ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of Korean citizens are not infringed upon.”
Georgia State Patrol troopers blocked roads to the Hyundai site. The Georgia Department of Public Safety confirmed they were dispatched to assist federal authorities.
Video posted to social media Thursday showed workers in yellow safety vests lined up as a man wearing a face mask and a tactical vest with the letters HSI, which stands for Homeland Security Investigations, tells them: “We’re Homeland Security. We have a search warrant for the whole site.”
“We need construction to cease immediately,” the man says. “We need all work to end on the site right now.”
The Trump administration has undertaken sweeping ICE operations as part of a mass deportation agenda. Immigration officers have raided farms, construction sites, restaurants and auto repair shops.
The Pew Research Center, citing preliminary Census Bureau data, says the U.S. labor force lost more than 1.2 million immigrants from January through July. That includes people who are in the country illegally as well as legal residents.
In addition to making electric vehicles at the site facing Interstate 16 in Bryan County, Hyundai has also partnered with LG Energy Solution to build the battery plant. It’s slated to open sometime next year.
The 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.”
But LG Energy Solution Ltd. in South Korea declined to comment on the raid to CBS News.
Operations at Hyundai’s EV manufacturing plant weren’t interrupted, said plant spokesperson Bianca Johnson.
“This did not impact people getting to work,” Johnson said in an email. “Production and normal office hours had already begun for the day” when authorities shut down access.
