- Around 200 detained Korean workers are now preparing to sue ICE.
- Many labeled “illegal aliens” actually held valid U.S. work visas.
- Workers say guards ridiculed them and made racial taunts in custody.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will soon face a lawsuit from hundreds of Korean engineers who were arrested in September during a raid at the Hyundai factory in Georgia.
Read: Korea Investigates Human Rights Violations In ICE Raid As Trump Calls For More Investments
The episode has continued to draw scrutiny, partly because the circumstances surrounding the detentions have remained difficult to untangle, and partly because many of those taken into custody insist they were in the country legally.
On September 4, ICE officials stormed the plant and arrested 475 individuals who were described as “illegal aliens.” It soon emerged that 317 of them were Korean workers that Hyundai had brought to the US to help set up the new facility.
Conditions Under Question
While some of these employees were found to be working illegally on short-term and recreational visas, it’s understood that many of them did have valid work visas and were legally employed at the plant.
Approximately 200 of the detained workers are now preparing to file a lawsuit against ICE, claiming they were subjected to racial discrimination and suffered from excessive use of force and human rights violations.
The Korea Times reports that the detainees were kept in rooms with 60 to 80 people and forced to sleep on moldy mattresses and drink water that smelled “foul.” It’s also alleged that many were ridiculed by guards and subjected to racial taunts.
A Worker Speaks Out
“The agents confiscated our phones and shackled us around the wrists, ankles and chest,” one of the workers told ABC News.
“Being confined in a space controlled by armed personnel, unable to see what was happening ahead or behind, with no explanations; it was terrifying. I felt utterly powerless. We were treated like dangerous fugitives, not engineers.”
The workers are seeking compensation for damages. Both Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, the employees of the workers, say the lawsuit is being “pursued on an individual basis,” and the firms themselves are not involved.
The detained workers were released after a week of detention and swiftly repatriated to South Korea. The nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was reviewing the case to determine whether the treatment of its citizens had crossed the line into human rights violations.
Source: The Korea Times
