South Korean Leader Lee Jae Myung Urges US Visa Reform After ICE Raid Detains 6

(SAVANNAH, GEORGIA) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung urged U.S. lawmakers on April 2, 2026, to change visa rules after an ICE raid at a battery plant near Savannah, Georgia, detained 475 workers, mostly South Koreans, last year.

Lee raised the issue in Seoul during talks with a bipartisan U.S. Senate delegation, tying visa stability for Korean workers to South Korea’s investment plans in the United States. He also called for congressional backing for the “Partner with Korea Act,” a proposal aimed at creating new work visas for South Korean professionals.

His appeal brought renewed attention to a September 4, 2025 operation at the Hyundai-LG Energy Solutions battery plant near Savannah, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained workers accused of violating B-1 business visas or visa waiver permits by performing manual labor.

Korean officials, however, described the detainees as skilled technicians on short-term assignments for plant setup. The dispute over how the workers should have been classified became a flashpoint in a broader diplomatic and political debate over how the United States handles labor and business mobility for South Korean companies investing there.

Of the 475 detained, 316 South Koreans and 14 others were released after a week and departed Atlanta on a charter flight on September 11, 2025. The detentions quickly drew protests in Seoul and prompted a push by South Korean officials to seek changes in U.S. visa policy.

Lee’s intervention on April 2 came as both governments tried to contain damage to a relationship shaped by deepening economic ties. His message to the visiting U.S. lawmakers was that stable residency arrangements for Korean workers are essential if South Korea’s U.S. investment package is to move forward smoothly.

The issue goes beyond a single factory. South Korean officials have linked the case to a wider concern that Korean firms expanding in the United States need a visa path that matches the demands of large industrial projects.

Earlier diplomatic contacts had already focused on that point. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met U.S. Senators Todd Young, Bill Hagerty, and Andy Kim in Washington on September 10-11, 2025, expressed public concern and proposed a new visa category for Korean workers tied to such projects.

Those discussions produced an agreement to form a South Korea-U.S. working group for long-term solutions. The working group became one of the clearest signs that both sides saw the Savannah-area detentions not as an isolated consular problem but as a structural issue tied to investment, labor mobility and bilateral coordination.

Lee had publicly raised the case before. At a September 12 press conference marking his 100th day in office, he called the raid “perplexing” and warned that it could discourage future Korean investment in the United States.

He placed that warning in an economic context that both Seoul and Washington have emphasized in recent years. Lee cited over $350 billion pledged in U.S.-Korea investments, including battery plants, semiconductor fabs, and shipyards.

That figure matters politically in both countries. The investment wave has been held up as evidence of deepening cooperation, but the Georgia detentions exposed how immigration rules can collide with industrial policy when companies move staff across borders to launch or service major projects.

South Korean officials have argued that technicians sent for plant setup fill a practical need at factories that require specialized knowledge during construction or early production. U.S. authorities accused the detained workers of crossing the line from business visits or visa waiver travel into unauthorized manual labor.

That gap in interpretation has driven Seoul’s call for a more tailored visa option. The “Partner with Korea Act” has emerged as the centerpiece of that effort, with South Korean leaders pressing U.S. lawmakers to create a category that better fits temporary industrial assignments by Korean professionals.

Lee’s talks in Seoul on April 2 showed that the proposal remains active months after the raid. U.S. lawmakers pledged close attention to the issue during the Seoul meetings, keeping visa reform on the agenda as both sides weigh legislative and diplomatic steps.

The matter had also surfaced in New York, where Lee met U.S. lawmakers, including four from the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees. In those meetings, the lawmakers acknowledged the need for improvements and connected visa reform to advancing the “Partner with Korea Act.”

That link between legislative action and bilateral investment has become central to Seoul’s argument. South Korean leaders have said future projects may depend not only on financial incentives or trade conditions, but also on whether workers can enter and remain in the United States under rules suited to modern supply chains.

Companies from South Korea have poured money into U.S. manufacturing sectors that Washington has promoted as strategic. Battery plants, semiconductor fabs, and shipyards sit at the center of that push, making worker access an issue with economic and diplomatic weight.

The September 4, 2025 ICE raid turned that technical question into a political one. Images of large-scale detentions involving South Korean nationals gave critics in Seoul an example of what they described as a mismatch between the alliance’s economic rhetoric and the treatment of Korean workers on the ground.

Reform Party Leader Lee Jun-seok added to that pressure by warning of rising anti-American sentiment in South Korea over the detentions. He also urged visa adjustments, broadening the debate beyond the government and into domestic political discourse.

His comments reflected concern that a labor and immigration dispute could spill into public attitudes at a delicate time. The incident followed Lee’s White House meeting with President Trump and came as Seoul and Washington were trying to manage strained ties while expanding economic cooperation.

That tension has shaped the official response from South Korea. Rather than treating the case only as a matter of consular support for detained nationals, Lee and Cho pushed for a policy remedy designed to prevent another confrontation at an investment site.

For U.S. lawmakers, the issue touches multiple constituencies at once. It affects foreign investment, labor rules, immigration enforcement and relations with a treaty ally that has pledged large sums to American manufacturing projects.

Young, Hagerty and Kim entered that debate early through their Washington meetings with Cho on September 10-11, 2025. Their agreement to help launch a South Korea-U.S. working group suggested room for a longer process that could combine administrative coordination with legislative action.

The Seoul talks on April 2 added fresh momentum. Lee used the meeting not only to revisit the Georgia detentions but also to press the broader point that visa policy can shape the success or failure of industrial partnerships.

That argument is likely to keep echoing as both governments assess next steps. The working group offers a channel for longer-term solutions, while the “Partner with Korea Act” gives supporters a concrete legislative vehicle.

The stakes remain high because the disagreement at the Savannah-area plant did not emerge from a marginal project. It involved a Hyundai-LG Energy Solutions battery plant, one of the types of investments South Korean leaders cite when they point to over $350 billion pledged in U.S.-Korea projects.

Lee’s message in Seoul was direct: if Korean firms are expected to keep building in the United States, the workers they send must have visa rules that fit the work they are doing. U.S. lawmakers said they would pay close attention, leaving the future of the “Partner with Korea Act” and wider visa reforms as the next test of whether the alliance can match economic ambition with immigration policy.