Federal agents have arrested 13 Korean foreign nationals illegally working at the SK Innovation Battery Plant in Jackson County. It’s the second round of arrests targeting illegal workers at the plant in four months.
All of the workers arrested Wednesday have been ordered out of the country by October 10 and banned from returning for 10 years because they were here under false pretenses, according to FOX 5 News in Atlanta.
The investigation that led to the arrests followed prompting by elected officials and a report by FOX 5 News reporter Randy Travis showing Korean nationals working at the construction site in Commerce.
In mid-August, 9th District Georgia Congressman Doug Collins sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CPB) asking them to conduct a full investigation. A week later, Collins asked them to accelerate their investigation after viewing Travis’ report and learning that local officials discovered over 200 Korean foreign nationals training for on-the-job welding at a non-operational chicken farm just five miles from SK’s construction site off of I-85.
“These arrests confirm what we suspected all along,” says Collins adding that “for months, SK and their contractors have been engaged in an ongoing scheme to illegally employ Korean foreign nationals at their facility in Northeast Georgia.”
The workers were employed by a construction firm, not by SK, a company spokesman told the AJC. General contractors and subcontractors are responsible for ensuring workers have the correct visas. In May, CBP agents arrested 33 Koreans who were working at the SK plant without proper visas.
“These jobs were promised to hardworking Georgians, and SK’s illegal and immoral actions have been nothing but a betrayal to Georgia taxpayers who have invested heavily in SK’s development in our state,” says Rep. Collins.
Georgia gave SK over $300 million in tax breaks, grants, and land to encourage them to bring their battery factory to the state. It’s the largest economic development project in Georgia since Kia Motors opened its auto manufacturing plant in West Point in 2011.
Construction on the 2.4 million-square-foot SK plant in Commerce began last year. The plant will supply batteries for Volkswagen and Ford brand vehicles and eventually could employ up to 2, 600 workers.
Despite the two rounds of worker arrests, the company still expects to complete construction on its original timeline. The first phase is due to be completed at the end of this year with initial production starting next year. The second phase will be completed at the end of 2023.
The immigration crackdown comes amid a legal battle between SK Innovation and rival LG Chem over a patent for technology SK plans to use at the plant. The International Trade Commission is expected to rule on that case next month.
