Many of the car workers arrested in a huge US workplace immigration raid had violated their visitor visas, officials say.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said 475 people, mostly South Korean citizens – were found to be illegally working at a Hyundai battery plant in the state of Georgia on Thursday.
“People on short-term or recreational visas are not authorized to work in the US,” ICE said, adding that the raid was necessary to protect American jobs.
UPDATE on the day after: Hyundai claims the workers were not their employees but were employed by construction subcontractors. That sounds to me like Hyundai is dodging responsibility on a technicality. A major point of their building facilities in USA is to provide jobs for American citizens. ABN