South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has urged the U.S. Congress to support a new visa for his nation’s companies, as a whole lot of primarily Korean workers arrested throughout an enormous U.S. immigration raid final week had been set to return home on Friday (September 12, 2025).
“During his meetings with U.S. senators in Washington, Mr. Cho reiterated concerns among South Koreans over the detention of Korean professionals participating in investment projects in the United States,” his Ministry mentioned in a press release.
A aircraft carrying greater than 300 Korean workers who had been detained in the course of the raid at a Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution battery three way partnership in the state of Georgia has left the United States, certain for South Korea.
The aircraft is anticipated to the touch down in South Korea at round 2 p.m. (0500 GMT), in keeping with LG Energy Solution, whose workers and subcontractors had been among the many detainees.
After being held for every week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the South Korean workers have been launched and flown from Atlanta.
The raid that despatched shockwaves throughout South Korea has threatened to destabilise ties, at a time when each nations are in search of to finalise a commerce deal, and to scare off South Korean funding in the United States that U.S. President Donald Trump has been eager to safe.
“Following the raid, the battery plant is facing a minimum startup delay of two to three months,” Hyundai CEO Jose Munoz mentioned on Thursday (September 11, 2025). “In the wake of the raid, Washington and Seoul have agreed to discuss establishing a new visa category for South Koreans,” Mr. Cho has mentioned.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick mentioned on Thursday (September 11, 2025) that a whole lot of South Korean workers arrested in the course of the immigration raid had the flawed visas.
“I called up the Koreans, I said, oh, give me a break. Get the right visa and if you’re having problems getting the right visa, call me,” Mr. Lutnick mentioned in an interview with Axios.
Asked if the raid had created tensions between the nations, Mr. Lutnick informed CNBC Trump would “go and address that.” “So I think he’s going to make a deal with different countries that when they want to build big here, he’ll find a way to get their workers proper work visas, meaning short-term work visas, train Americans and then head home,” he mentioned.
South Korean corporations have complained for years that they’ve struggled to acquire short-term work visas for specialists wanted at their high-tech U.S. vegetation, and had come to depend on a gray zone of looser interpretation of visa guidelines below earlier U.S. administrations.
“Minister Cho emphasised that fundamental preventative measures are essential to ensure that our workforce is not subjected to unfair treatment in order to fulfil our companies’ investment commitments to the United States,” the Ministry mentioned in a press release.
