Hyundai battery plant in Georgia delayed, not scrapped after ICE raid

Published on September 19, 2025 at 08:21
3 min read
By Hailey JO, AFP South Korea

After hundreds of South Korean workers were detained in a massive immigration raid on the construction site of an electric vehicle battery plant in the US state of Georgia, social media posts falsely claimed the automaker had announced it had cancelled plans to complete the project. Hyundai's chief executive said construction would be delayed, not cancelled.

"Hyundai announces it is cancelling plans to complete 4 billion dollar plant in Georgia due to ICE raid," reads the text on a TikTok image shared on September 14, 2025.

The image appears to show an aerial view of the Hyundai-LG battery plant raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on September 4 (archived link).

The Georgia raid -- the largest single-site operation conducted since US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping immigration crackdown across the country -- saw around 475 people, mostly South Korean nationals, arrested by authorities who alleged they had overstayed their visas or held permits that did not allow them to perform manual labour.

Though the United States decided against deportation, images of the workers being chained and handcuffed during the raid caused widespread alarm in South Korea (archived link). Seoul repatriated the workers on September 12 (archived link).

Screenshot of the false TikTok post captured on September 18, 2025, with a red cross added by AFP

The claim that the automaker was cancelling plans for a Georgia plant also spread in similar Threads, Instagram and X posts in the aftermath of the massive immigration raid that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called "bewildering" and noted could have a chilling effect on future investment.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said foreign workers sent to the United States are "welcome" and he does not want to "frighten off" investors.

According to The Korea Economic Daily, at least 22 US projects involving South Korean businesses were suspended following the raid (archived link).

But there have been no official reports of either Hyundai or LG announcing the cancellation of the Georgia project.

AFP reported that Hyundai Chief Executive Officer Jose Munoz said on September 11 that construction would be set back due to labour shortages (archived link).

"This is going to give us minimum two to three months delay, because now all these people want to get back," he said.

Kim Dong-myung, president of LG Energy Solution, said: "It's not as serious as some media reports suggest. We believe it's manageable."

LG said it remained committed to its US projects, adding that it was also working to minimise "any business impact resulting from this incident".

In a statement issued after the raid, Hyundai said it was continuing to invest in American manufacturing and creating thousands of jobs "in full accordance with US law" (archived link).

A Hyundai representative also told AFP on September 17 the claim the Georgia project was cancelled was untrue. He added that the chief executive's September 11 remarks still reflect how the company is assessing the situation.

AFP has previously fact-checked other misinformation about the Hyundai raid.

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