U.S. Homeland Security’s largest single-site operation in history resulted in the arrest of 475 people Thursday at the Hyundai Megasite in Bryan County, with the “majority” of them Korean nationals, officials said.
Agents were executing a judicial search warrant obtained based on allegations of “unlawful employment practices and serious federal crimes,” Steven Shrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations for Georgia and South Carolina said at a Friday news conference in Savannah.
The intent of the multi-agency operation, dubbed “Operation Low Voltage,” was “protecting jobs for Georgians and Americans” and “protecting workers from exploitation,” he said.
In a later statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Meg Heap’s office said several people attempted to flee as the warrant was executed. Some ran into a detention pond and agents removed them using a boat. One person swam under the boat and “tried to flip it over.”
Various news reports showed unmarked buses said to be used to transport arrestees from the site, and reported hundreds of marked and unmarked law enforcement units at the scene. Over 400 agents participated in the massive event, Heap said.
The raid took place at the construction site of LG Energy Solution, a South Korean battery manufacturer co-owned by Hyundai and known as HL-GA Battery Co. Gov. Brian Kemp has touted Hyundai’s $7.6 billion electric vehicle factory at the megasite as Georgia’s largest-ever economic development project. The battery site was set to open by next year.
No criminal charges would be announced Friday, Shrank said. Most of the 475 arrested were taken to the D. Ray James Correctional Facility, an immigration detention center in Folkston, after agents checked their backgrounds, he said.
Those arrested were “illegally present in the United States,” working in violation of their visas, or working unlawfully after entering the U.S. in a variety of means, including some who “illegally crossed the border,” he said.
The New York Times reported company executives were among those arrested. Shrank said the operation included the seizures of materials to be used as evidence. Ellabell, where the megasite is located in Bryan County, is about 100 miles south of Augusta.
The arrested workers were employees of multiple companies, Shrank said, including “subcontractors of subcontractors.”
The operation was the result of investigations performed over “the course of many months” this year, he said. Prior workers, community members and others have provided “many leads” in the case, he said.
No substantial uses of force were reported. One arrestee overheated and an agent sustained a minor laceration, he said.
In the statement, Heap said the undertaking yielded substantial results.
“The goal of this operation is to reduce illegal employment and prevent employers from gaining an unfair advantage by hiring unauthorized workers,” she said. “Another goal is to protect unauthorized workers from exploitation.”
The statement said the investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with assistance from numerous other agencies. These included U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO); the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); IRS Criminal Investigations; the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General; the United States Marshal Service (USMS) and the Georgia State Patrol.
Assistant United States Attorneys Tania Groover, Ryan Bondura, Kelsey Scanlon and E. Greg Gilluly, Jr., are investigating the case.
