Plane Sent by South Korea to Repatriate Workers Held in Georgia Raid

In a stunning display of the Biden administration’s disorganized immigration enforcement, South Korea is dispatching a chartered plane to Atlanta to retrieve hundreds of its nationals detained in a massive ICE raid at a Georgia-based electric vehicle battery plant. The raid, which netted nearly 500 arrests, has triggered diplomatic tension with one of America’s closest allies and further highlighted the broken immigration system under Biden's leadership.

The South Korean workers were part of a $4.3 billion Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution project to produce EV batteries a key element of Biden’s so-called green energy agenda. Instead of fostering cooperation, however, the White House allowed the largest single-site immigration enforcement action in Homeland Security’s history to spiral into a full-blown international incident.

Key points:

• Roughly 300 South Koreans and 175 others were detained by federal agents during last week's operation at the EV facility.

• South Korea is now sending a Boeing 747-8i with 368 seats to repatriate many of its citizens.

• Nearly 60% of South Koreans polled said they were disappointed with what they view as excessive U.S. enforcement.

President Lee Jae Myung called for a “reasonable resolution” with Washington and pledged to negotiate in the spirit of alliance an alliance clearly strained by the raid. South Korea’s foreign minister is currently in D.C., reportedly seeking both a diplomatic solution and a special work permit process for Korean professionals going forward.

It gets worse: reports suggest many of the detainees were in the U.S. under visa waivers or B-1 business visas not work visas raising serious questions about whether the Biden administration has any coherent policy or clear communication with international partners. Workers say they were sent to the U.S. under questionable documentation, despite concerns raised before their travel.

Even local Korean-American leaders are calling the situation a disaster. James Rim, who runs housing for Korean workers near the Hyundai plant, said many of his residents were taken during the raid, with some now too afraid to return.

“It should have been done earlier but I think now is a good chance to give some kind of a special work permit to Koreans,” Rim said. “Otherwise, it would be difficult to build factories only with a local workforce.”

Exactly. Biden’s reckless border policies have created chaos at every level letting illegal migrants pour in at the southern border while arresting legal workers from U.S. allies helping build billion-dollar American manufacturing projects.

Meanwhile, as the administration stumbles through international embarrassment after embarrassment, China and Russia are watching and laughing.

The United States should not be punishing our allies while failing to defend our own borders. This is what happens when the rule of law is selectively applied based on political optics rather than national interest.

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