In Savannah, Georgia, U.S. immigration authorities carried out a raid on the Hyundai plant where electric vehicles are produced, halting construction on a nearby facility intended for EV battery production.
Targeting one of Georgia’s most prominent manufacturing sites, this operation involved the $7.6 billion Hyundai facility, recognized by state leaders as a pivotal economic development, employing approximately 1,200 staff since starting EV production last year.
Lindsay Williams, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, confirmed the enforcement activity at the extensive 3,000-acre site west of Savannah, with a focus on the battery plant’s construction area.
The Department of Homeland Security released a statement indicating that agents executed a search warrant as part of an ongoing investigation into potential illegal employment practices and other serious federal violations, without confirming any detentions or arrests.
Georgia State Patrol officers secured roads leading to the Hyundai complex, and the Georgia Department of Public Safety noted their involvement in supporting federal operations.
A social media video on Thursday depicted workers in safety gear being addressed by an individual with a mask and vest marked HSI (Homeland Security Investigations), stating, “We’re Homeland Security. We have a search warrant for the whole site.”
“We need construction to cease immediately,” the man says. “We need all work to end on the site right now.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has undertaken sweeping ICE operations as part of a mass deportation agenda. Immigration officers have raided farms, construction sites, restaurants and auto repair shops.
The Pew Research Center, citing preliminary Census Bureau data, says the U.S. labor force lost more than 1.2 million immigrants from January through July. That includes people who are in the country illegally as well as legal residents.
In addition to making electric vehicles at the site facing Interstate 16 in Bryan County, Hyundai has also partnered with LG Energy Solution to build the battery plant. It’s slated to open sometime next year.
The joint venture, HL-GA Battery Company, “is cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities,” the company said in a statement. “To assist their work, we have paused construction.”
Operations at Hyundai’s EV manufacturing plant weren’t interrupted, said plant spokesperson Bianca Johnson.
“This did not impact people getting to work,” Johnson said in an email. “Production and normal office hours had already begun for the day” when authorities shut down access.
