A South Korean national who chose to remain in the United States after being arrested earlier this month at the Hyundai Motor Group–LG Energy Solution joint battery plant construction site in Georgia has been granted bail and will be released soon.
According to U.S. immigration court records on the 25th (local time), Kelly N. Sidno, a judge at the Georgia field office of the federal immigration court, held a bail hearing that day and granted bail to a South Korean national identified as a person surnamed Lee. As a result, if Lee, who is being held at the Folkston ICE Processing Center in Georgia, pays the bond, the person will proceed with the remaining legal process while released.
A representative of the law firm "Nelson Mullins," which is representing Lee, told Yonhap News that the person "will be released within 24 hours."
Earlier, on 4th, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and others raided the Hyundai Motor–LG Energy Solution joint HL-GA battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia, and arrested and detained 475 people, including more than 300 South Koreans such as employees of LG Energy Solution and its partner companies. Of these, 316 South Koreans and 14 foreign nationals returned to Korea on 11th in the form of voluntary departure.
At the time of the arrest, Lee was in the process of obtaining U.S. permanent residency and was the only person among the South Koreans detained to choose to remain in the United States and pursue subsequent legal procedures instead of returning home.