Plugged In: Battery plant raid tests Georgia’s ties with South Korea

·22 min·2 clips

A Korean Air jet departs Atlanta with 300 South Korean citizens detained in a federal raid on a Georgia battery plant.

The episode begins by describing a Korean Air flight departing Atlanta with 300 South Korean citizens detained in a federal raid at an EV battery plant near Savannah. This raid is part of a multi-month criminal investigation and tests Georgia's long-standing economic relationship with South Korea, which includes Hyundai's multi-billion dollar EV plant. Governor Brian Kemp, who championed the Hyundai project, now faces a balancing act between his past support for immigration crackdowns and maintaining good relations with South Korean investors. Republican strategist Brian Robinson explains Kemp's tricky political position. The episode notes South Korea's president warned that companies may hesitate to invest further without visa system changes. The discussion shifts to broader immigration enforcement in Georgia, introduced by WABE immigration reporter Emily Wu-Pearson. She reports that the detained South Korean workers were here for temporary installation projects requiring specialized knowledge, and such cases are rare—only eight South Koreans were among over 7,000 recent immigration arrests in Georgia. The episode then zooms out to examine Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, a facility with over 2,000 detainees in a town of about 900 people. The detention center is isolated, with no immigration attorneys locally, making legal representation difficult. Research shows having an attorney doubles the likelihood of obtaining immigration relief for detained individuals. Nonprofits like El Refugio provide free housing for visitors to the detention center. Emily Wu-Pearson describes observing an immigration court hearing at Stewart, where most detainees accepted deportation without contesting, often due to lack of legal access. The economic impact on Stewart County is explored: the detention center employs 600 people, but only 90 live in the county, partly due to a lack of housing. ICE pays over $33 million monthly to the private prison company CoreCivic operating the facility, while the county receives about $600,000 annually in fees. County manager Mack Moy states this revenue funds essential services like ambulances. The episode concludes by noting upcoming changes affecting refugees in Georgia, including cuts to resettlement funding and loss of Medicaid eligibility.

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