More than 300 South Korean workers detained in the U.S. during an anti-immigration operation at a Hyundai battery factory have departed on a flight back to South Korea.
The workers, mostly skilled technicians, traveled by bus from a detention center in the southeast of Georgia to the city of Atlanta, where they boarded a flight to South Korea, where they are expected to arrive this Friday.
It should be noted that the Hyundai employees were among approximately 475 people detained during last week’s operation at the battery production facility under construction at the South Korean automaker Hyundai’s factory in Savannah, Georgia.
Hyundai has already announced that the situation with the repatriated workers will delay the start of battery production for electric vehicles by about three months.
Hyundai’s CEO, José Munoz, reminded that while the factory, owned by a joint venture between Hyundai and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution, does not begin operations, Hyundai will source batteries from other factories, including a jointly owned factory in Georgia by the South Korean battery manufacturer SK On.
