The opening of a United States Hyundai battery plant raided by immigration authorities will be delayed by at least two months, Hyundai said.
The Georgia facility was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations last week, with 475 people being detained. Over 300 were South Korean nationals.
“This is going to give us minimum two to three months delay, because now all these people want to get back,” said Hyundai CEO José Muñoz.
“Then you need to see how can you fill those positions. And for the most part, those people are not in the U.S.”
Hyundai had agreed to invest US$21 billion in the U.S. in March. These plans will still go ahead, according to Muñoz.
The battery plant, along with a nearby vehicle assembly facility, was projected to produce up to 500,000 electric and hybrid vehicles each year. Hyundai has said the vehicle assembly facility will not be affected by the battery plant’s delayed opening.
While U.S. authorities said the people detained were working illegally in the U.S., an attorney representing several of the employees said seven of his clients were legally permitted to work on installing battery equipment at the facility.
None of the people detained were directly employed by Hyundai, the company said. Many were employed by LG Energy Solutions, which has partnered with Hyundai on its battery venture.
The plant was raided as South Korea aims to finalise a trade agreement with the U.S. While a deal was announced in July, the two countries have yet to confirm its implementation, with details of a potential South Korean investment in the U.S. still being negotiated.
More than 300 detained South Korean workers will return to Seoul on a charter flight today, joined by another 14 employees of South Korean companies from elsewhere in Asia. The flight was originally set to leave Atlanta on Wednesday, but was postponed by the U.S. for reasons it did not disclose.
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