Consular officials complete meetings with Koreans detained in immigration crackdown
Published: 09 Sep. 2025, 10:05
![Korean diplomats stand in front of the Folkston Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in Folkston, Georgia, on Sept. 8 following their meetings with Korean workers detained during a recent immigration crackdown. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/09/09/cc178419-39b6-4db5-be39-74d50bc48b47.jpg)
Korean diplomats stand in front of the Folkston Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in Folkston, Georgia, on Sept. 8 following their meetings with Korean workers detained during a recent immigration crackdown. [YONHAP]
Korean consular officials have completed face-to-face meetings with Korean nationals detained in a recent immigration raid in Georgia, and are ready to start a process to secure their formal consent on their departure from the United States, a Seoul diplomat said Monday.
Cho Ki-joong, consul general at the Korean Embassy in Washington, made the remarks in a meeting with reporters after visiting a detention center in Folkston where most of the more than 300 Korean nationals have been detained following last week's raid at an electric vehicle battery plant construction site for a joint venture of Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution in Bryan County.
"We've met all who wished [to see consular officials]. We met them on an individual basis as well as in groups," Cho said.
He added that the process to get the people's formal consent on their departure will begin soon.
Asked to confirm the number of people who want to voluntarily depart or stay in the United States, Cho said, "We are not in a situation to tell you about that. We will explain it to you at an appropriate time later."
Those who want to return to Korea are expected to board a chartered plane as early as Wednesday.
Korea has been seeking to bring the Korean workers back home through voluntarily leaving the United States rather than facing deportation.
U.S. immigration authorities were known to have initially offered two options — immediate deportation and restrictions on their entry into the United States for five years or a monthslong trial under detention.
Cho said that there are many administrative and technical matters to address as Korea is seeking to repatriate hundreds of its citizens en masse via a chartered plane.
"As the U.S. side has been cooperating well with us, [we] have been proceeding with the work smoothly, by and large," Cho said of Seoul's efforts to secure the release of the Korean nationals.
The diplomat also said that those who voluntarily depart would not face any restrictions on their future entry into the United States, in line with U.S. rules.
The immigration raid at the site resulted in the arrest of 475 people, including the Korean workers. Male Korean workers have been detained at the Folkston Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center while female colleagues have been held at the Stewart Detention Center.
ICE said that those arrested were found to be working illegally in the United States, including those on short-term or recreational visas that prohibit them from working.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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