SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid last week in the U.S. state of Georgia will depart from the U.S. around 1430 local time (1830 GMT) on Wednesday, Yonhap news agency said, citing an unidentified diplomatic source.
South Korea’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Wednesday at the White House, the U.S. Department of State said.
South Korea had arranged for a chartered plane to bring back about 300 workers detained in the raid at the site of the $4.3 billion Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution project to build batteries for electric cars.
Before leaving for Washington on Monday, Cho said he planned to work with the U.S. to prevent a repeat of similar incidents and was seeking assurances that Koreans who return home would be allowed to re-enter the U.S..
In a social media post on Sunday, Trump said the U.S. would make it “quickly and legally possible” for foreign companies to bring their staff into the country if they respected U.S. immigration laws.
When asked about the comment and what changes it might signal for the U.S. visa system, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt reiterated Trump’s message and noted that the U.S. government was working on the matter.
“The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Commerce are working on this matter together,” she told a news conference on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Chris Reese and Neil Fullick)
