‘It felt like a war zone:’ Georgia raid sends shockwaves through Korean-American community

When federal immigration agents stormed the Hyundai-LG battery plant construction site on September hundreds of workers fled in panic A few scaled fences Others hid in air ducts It felt like a war zone announced Kim a project manager for a Korean-American subcontractor who petitioned to be identified only by his surname due to privacy concerns GO DEEPER Inside the raid How a monthslong federal immigration operation led to arrests at a Hyundai plant in Georgia via CNN We thought we came here to help build Georgia s largest factory What we faced instead felt like a military raid The early morning raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE resulted in the detention of workers including over South Korean nationals a multitude of of whom had entered the United States on business or short-term work visas What began as a flagship economic progress project for Georgia has now become the flashpoint of an immigration political and diplomatic problem A District in Shock This wasn t about safety It was about fear exploitation and politics So stated Rep Sam Park D-GA Georgia s only Korean-American state legislator during a press conference held by the Korean American Association of Greater Atlanta KAAGA Park condemned the scale and method of the operation Workers are being punished while political and corporate leaders remain untouched At the same event Rep Matt Reeves R-GA acknowledged the society s concerns and called for transparency and justice noting the prospective for wrongful detentions Rep Soo Hong R-GA also Korean-American issued a announcement saying she is closely monitoring the situation and emphasized the raid was conducted under a judge-signed warrant She pledged to work with federal agencies to ensure fair remedy Silence from the Top While group leaders spoke out Governor Brian Kemp who previously called the Hyundai-LG plant the centerpiece of Georgia s economic expansion and Senator Jon Ossoff a vocal advocate of Korean venture have yet to issue statements Their silence has not gone unnoticed Governor Kemp celebrated this plant as his legacy project Why is he silent now that it s become a humanitarian dilemma reported a senior official at the Korean American Association of Greater Atlanta who requested not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue This is a betrayal When things go wrong leadership should step up not disappear Legal and Humanitarian Fallout The legal consequences are severe Under U S immigration law a multitude of of the detained workers may be subject to expedited removal which permits deportation without a hearing and includes a minimum five-year reentry ban We are not denying that various visa issues may exist commented Joshua Wie an immigration attorney with over two decades of experience assisting Korean immigrants in Georgia But that does not justify treating engineers and technicians as criminals This is a legal and humanitarian emergency KAAGA and the Korean American Bar Association of Georgia KABA-GA are now coordinating legal representation and encouragement for the detainees at the Folkston ICE Processing Center where a great number of are at present being held More Than a Raid A Defining Moment The Hyundai-LG plant was intended to symbolize the future of clean resource manufacturing in the Southeast Instead it now symbolizes a fracture between immigrant communities and law enforcement between U S rhetoric and reality and between two nations caught in the crosshairs of domestic politics America desired our capital revealed Eun Seok Park president of KAAGA Then it must also allow us to bring the people who make that outlay feasible skilled personnel with the know-how and tools to get the job done The visa issue necessities to be addressed Courtrooms will decide the legal questions and diplomats will tackle the politics But in Georgia s Korean-American group the more challenging task remains rebuilding a trust that may not return anytime soon The post It felt like a war zone Georgia raid sends shockwaves through Korean-American neighborhood appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta