By Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce Lee
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean workers detained during an immigration raid last week in the U.S. state of Georgia will depart from the United States at around 2:30 pm (1830 GMT) on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said.
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.
At a meeting with Korean companies in Washington, Cho said he would ensure the safe return of the Korean workers and that there would be no consequences on their re-entry to the United States, the foreign ministry 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.
Many of the detained workers are employees of subcontractors involved in the project.
The plane left South Korea for Atlanta on Wednesday morning, flight data showed. A smaller number of Japanese and Chinese nationals arrested during the same immigration raid will also board the plane, South Korean media reported.
The workers currently detained in a U.S. immigration detention facility are expected to move to Atlanta airport by bus early on Wednesday, said the source, who works at a subcontractor and asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Representatives of Korean companies, including Hyundai Motor and LG, urged the government to negotiate with the U.S. for a new type of visa for Korean professionals and to get clearer visa guidelines to reduce uncertainty and support their businesses in the U.S., the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Korean businesses have complained about strict U.S. limits on visas for skilled foreign workers, which they say make it difficult for them to oversee the construction of factories or to train the local workforce.
In a social media post on Sunday, U.S. President Donald 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 Hyunjoo Jin, Joyce Lee, Ju-min Park; Editing by Chris Reese, Neil Fullick, Ed Davies and Saad Sayeed)
