LG, Hyundai distance themselves from workers' legal actions over Georgia raid

LG Energy Solution and Hyundai Motor Group are distancing themselves from the legal actions of workers against the U.S. government over their detention during last year’s immigration raid at the companies’ joint battery plant in Georgia.

An LG Energy Solution official told The Korea Times Wednesday that the company was not aware that employees were taking legal action until media reports emerged Tuesday night. The official added that the company would not get involved because the legal actions were based on individual decisions by the workers, and the company is not tracking who is joining the campaign.

An official at Hyundai Motor Group also said none of the company’s employees were among those detained at the time, adding that it is not involved in legal action taken individually by workers from partner companies or those dispatched to the site.

A day earlier, CNN reported that more than 300 Korean workers detained during the raid started filing administrative claims with nine federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor.

The filings are a required step before the workers can pursue lawsuits against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act. A Korean attorney representing the workers said she aims to file claims on behalf of all of them by the end of the year.

The claims allege that the workers were unlawfully detained during the raid on Sept. 4, 2025, and subjected to poor conditions while held at an ICE detention facility.

At the time, authorities detained 475 people, more than 300 of whom were Korean nationals. ICE said the operation was the largest single-site enforcement action in the agency’s history, but no one has been charged in connection with the raid. Local news outlet WTOC reported on Sept. 4 that no charges had been filed in the case, citing a Department of Justice spokesperson.

The raid was based on allegations of undocumented workers active on the site and other unlawful employment practices, but none of the companies accused of employing them have been charged. Authorities have also provided no public explanation of how the case was handled afterward.

LG Energy Solution and Hyundai Motor Group appear to be taking a cautious approach.

“If a company starts checking who is taking legal action and who is not, that alone could create unnecessary misunderstandings, so the companies appear determined not to get involved at all,” an industry official said.

During an investment forum in Washington last November, U.S. President Donald Trump said the companies had “spent $1 billion to build a factory and then were told to get out,” adding that he had stepped in to stop it.

The plant has recently been completed, and preparations are underway to begin mass production within the year. It will have an annual battery cell production capacity of 30 gigawatt-hours, enough to supply about 300,000 electric vehicles.