Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, IMMIGRATION NEWS—South Korea investigating potential rights abuses relating to September 4 ICE raid on Georgia plant, (Sep 16, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

While the Trump administration seems eager to repair its relationship with its ally, South Korea and its people appear more reticent.

Yesterday, less than two weeks after the raid on a battery plant in Georgia that resulted in over 300 South Korean workers being detained, South Korea’s foreign ministry confirmed that it would investigate whether those workers faced human rights violations as a result of the raid. According to officials, negotiations between the two countries over the mass detention took place quickly between September 6 and 9, not allowing for thorough fact-finding, which it now intends to undertake.

This comes at the same time that negotiations continue over the trade deal reached in July between the U.S. and South Korea, which would see the United States’ top Asian ally invest 350 billion dollars in the United States in return for lower duties.

Over the weekend, President Trump posted on social media:

"When Foreign Companies who are building extremely complex products, machines, and various other ‘things,’ come into the United States with massive Investments, I want them to bring their people of expertise for a period of time to teach and train our people how to make these very unique and complex products, as they phase out of our Country, and back into their land. If we didn’t do this, all of that massive Investment will never come in the first place—Chips, Semiconductors, Computers, Ships, Trains, and so many other products that we have to learn from others how to make, or, in many cases, relearn, because we used to be great at it, but not anymore. For example, Shipbuilding, where we used to build a Ship a day and now, we barely build a Ship a year. I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize Investment into America by outside Countries or Companies. We welcome them, we welcome their employees, and we are willing to proudly say we will learn from them, and do even better than them at their own ‘game,’ sometime into the not too distant future!”

This was perhaps in response to a statement by South Korea President Lee Jae Myung, who on Thursday stated that “As things stand now, our businesses will hesitate to make direct investments in the United States.” That statement, notably, came after the Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun.

All of the workers had returned home by Friday, with the exception of one who had applied for a green card who remains in detention. According to reporting by The Korea Herald, the South Korea government is still seeking a full explanation for why legally employed B-1 visa holders were detained.

News: ImmigrationNews EconomicNews Immigration WhiteHouseNews