On September 4, 2025, ICE conducted the largest single-site raid in the history of Homeland Security Investigations. On that day, 475 workers were arrested and 500 federal, state and local officers descended on the Hyundai-LG battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia with helicopters, drones, and military vehicles.

Armed and masked agents stormed the facility, lined workers up against walls, and blocked entrances and exits. According to workers, phones were confiscated while heavily armed ICE agents used intimidation tactics, pressured individuals to sign papers without representation, and threatened the use of force. Witnesses describe workers being physically beaten as ICE agents used tear gas, helicopters, drones, and military-style vehicles to surround the area and bar the doors. These are not workplace checks; these are militarized operations carried out against civilians.

About 300 South Korean nationals and 175 additional people from Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, China, Ecuador, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and Venezuela were arrested. The operation involved multiple federal agencies–ICE, Border Patrol, FBI, DEA, IRS and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives–alongside the Georgia State Patrol. Hardworking people were put on buses and sent to an ICE detention center – ripped away from their families and tossed into an uncertain, unsafe future

Although Governor Brian Kemp has touted the Hyundai plant as the biggest development project in Georgia, he has failed to denounce the enforcement agencies who subjected the very workers fueling this economic investment to inhumane and violent treatment.These raids reveal a broken system that criminalizes immigrant labor, but awards the elected officials who profit from it.

Contact your local and state officials in Georgia to demand they publicly condemn this raid and demand the release of all who are still detained.