Following a September ICE raid at a Georgia EV battery plant, Korean workers are preparing a class-action lawsuit. The workers, who were in the U.S. on business visas to train American employees, allege unlawful detention, racial profiling, and human rights violations, describing the raid as involving excessive force. The raid, which ICE called the largest-ever enforcement action at a single worksite, led to the detention of hundreds of workers before their release and return to Korea, sparking outrage and calls for clarification. Both the Korean and U.S. governments are now in talks to improve the visa system and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
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These South Korean workers came to the US to build an EV battery plant. They left in shackles. They still want to know why. The core of this unsettling story boils down to a question that hangs heavy in the air: why were these skilled engineers, brought to America to contribute to a burgeoning industry, treated with such disregard, and even worse, detained and deported? The simple, and frankly, disturbing truth is that the answers are multi-faceted, layered with the complexities of immigration policies, political maneuvering, and, let’s not shy away from it, accusations of deeply rooted racism and xenophobia.
The narrative reveals a tangled web of visa issues.… Continue reading
In a recent incident, over 300 South Korean workers, primarily engineers involved in building an electric car battery plant in Georgia, were detained by US immigration officials. The workers, some of whom were in the US on short-term visas, reported being handcuffed, shackled, and held in freezing detention centers where they were denied basic necessities. Despite initial claims of visa violations, a deal was struck allowing the workers to leave voluntarily. The South Korean government is now investigating potential human rights violations, and US officials have expressed regret over the incident, which has strained relations between the two countries.
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John Q. Hosedrinker
South Korean Workers Detained in US: Visa Issues, Shackles, and Lingering Questions
These South Korean workers came to the US to build an EV battery plant. They left in shackles. They still want to know why. The core of this unsettling story boils down to a question that hangs heavy in the air: why were these skilled engineers, brought to America to contribute to a burgeoning industry, treated with such disregard, and even worse, detained and deported? The simple, and frankly, disturbing truth is that the answers are multi-faceted, layered with the complexities of immigration policies, political maneuvering, and, let’s not shy away from it, accusations of deeply rooted racism and xenophobia.
The narrative reveals a tangled web of visa issues.… Continue reading