Immigration officials descended on Hyundai’s factory in Georgia yesterday, arresting hundreds of people at the production facility. Agents from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, DEA, and Georgia State Patrol arrested around 450 people they say were in the country illegally.
Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta, said, “We are making many arrests of undocumented individuals. We have encountered many lawful employees working here, United States citizens and lawful permanent residents, and they are of course being released.” The Hyundai facility sprawls across 3,000 acres and employs around 1,200 people.
A Hyundai spokesperson said there was no impact to the plant or production. The arrests happened at the automaker’s battery plant construction site, not on a factory floor, and the automaker said it was “cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities regarding activity at our construction site.” Construction on the new facility has been paused while the situation progresses.
Videos of the event show agents in masks approaching, saying, “We’re Homeland Security. We have a search warrant for the whole site. We need construction to cease immediately. We need all work to end on the site right now.” The raid is one of many that have happened over the last few months but is one of the largest to date.
[Images: Hyundai]
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