South Korea sends plane to US to bring back workers detained in immigration raid

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL South Korea AP A South Korean charter plane left for the U S on Wednesday to bring back Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in Georgia last week though administrators noted the return of the plane with the workers onboard will not happen as rapidly as they had hoped A total of workers more than of them South Koreans were rounded up in the Sept raid at the battery factory under construction at Hyundai s sprawling auto plant U S officials published video showing chosen being shackled with chains around their hands ankles and waists causing shock and a sense of betrayal among multiple in South Korea a key U S ally South Korea s authorities later noted it reached an agreement with the U S for the release of the workers Korean workers expected to be brought back home after days of detention South Korean TV footage presented the charter plane a Boeing - i from Korean Air taking off at Incheon International Airport just west of Seoul South Korea s Foreign Ministry disclosed it was talking with U S representatives about letting the plane return home with the disclosed workers as soon as practicable But it reported the plane cannot depart from the U S on Wednesday as South Korea earlier wished due to an unspecified reason involving the U S side The Korean workers are now being held at an immigration detention center in Folkston in southeast Georgia South Korean media released they will be freed and driven miles by bus to Atlanta to take the charter plane A bus leaves the Folkston Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center Wednesday Sept in Folkston Ga AP Photo Gary McCullough South Korean agents commented they ve been negotiating with the U S to win voluntary departures of the workers rather than deportations that could product in making them ineligible to return to the U S for up to years The workplace raid by the U S Homeland Shield agency was its largest yet as it pursues its mass deportation agenda The Georgia battery plant a joint venture between Hyundai and LG Ability Method is one of more than major industrial sites that South Korean companies are at this moment building in the United States Plenty of South Koreans view the Georgia raid as a source of national disgrace and remain stunned over it Only days earlier South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U S President Donald Trump held their first summit in Washington on Aug In late July South Korea also promised hundreds of billions of dollars in U S investments to reach a tariff deal Experts say South Korea won t likely take any major retaliatory strategies against the U S but the Georgia raid could become a source of tensions between the allies as the Trump administration intensifies immigration raids South Korea calls for improvement in U S visa systems U S leadership declared chosen of the detained workers had illegally crossed the U S frontier while others had entered the country legally but had expired visas or entered on a visa waiver that prohibited them from working But South Korean experts and personnel declared Washington has yet to act on Seoul s yearslong demand to ensure a visa system to accommodate skilled Korean workers needed to build facilities though it has been pressing South Korea to expand industrial investments in the U S Related Articles Currently in History September CERN s Large Hadron Collider powered up Supreme Court to speedily consider if President Donald Trump has power to impose sweeping tariffs US household income rose slightly last year roughly matching level Apple s iPhone line-up includes a new ultra-thin model and price hike for Pro model Who else appears to be in the Jeffrey Epstein th birthday book South Korean companies have been relying on short-term visitor visas or Electronic System for Passage Authorization to send workers needed to launch manufacturing sites and handle other setup tasks a practice that had been largely tolerated for years LG Resource Approach which employed the bulk of the detained workers instructed its South Korean employees in the U S on B- or B- short-term visit visas not to assessment to work until further notice and explained those with ESTAs to return home right away During his visit to Washington South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met representatives of major Korean companies operating in the U S including Hyundai LG and Samsung on Tuesday Cho stated them that South Korean agents are in working discussions with U S representatives and lawmakers about viable decree to create a separate visa quota for South Korean professionals operating in the U S according to Cho s ministry Trump explained this week the workers were here illegally and that the U S demands to work with other countries to have their experts train U S citizens to do specialized work such as battery and computer manufacturing Atlanta immigration attorney Charles Kuck who represents several of the detained South Korean nationals described The Associated Press on Monday that no company in the U S makes the machines used in the Georgia battery plant So they had to come from abroad to install or repair equipment on-site work that would take about three to five years to train someone in the U S to do he declared The South Korea-U S military alliance forged in blood during the - Korean War has experienced ups and downs over the decades But surveys have shown a majority of South Koreans endorsement the two countries alliance as the U S deployment of troops in South Korea and others in Japan has served as the backbone of the American military presence in the Asia-Pacific region During a Cabinet Council meeting on Tuesday Lee commented he felt big responsibility over the raid and expressed hopes that the operations of South Korean businesses won t be infringed upon unfairly again He revealed his ruling body will push to improve systems to prevent recurrences of similar incidents in close consultations with the U S