‘The company has been following state laws’: Governor Brian Kemp responds to Hyundai megasite raid

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Friday, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp spoke with WTOC for the first time about issues at the Hyundai megasite.

WTOC has been trying to get an interview with the Governor about Hyundai for close to a year now, asking for him to speak with us multiple times before that ICE raid about major safety hazards on the megasite, as well as allegations that local contractors were being left out in favor of cheaper, illegal labor.

We’ve also reached out several times since the raid. Friday, Governor Kemp finally answered some of our questions while in Savannah for his tourism conference.

In the September 4 raid of the megasite, ICE detained 475 people.

300 of those were South Korean nationals that the company says were here doing proprietary work that couldn’t be done by anyone else.

Those workers have since been repatriated, but there were 175 other workers detained that ICE says were undocumented or working illegally.

We asked Governor Kemp specifically about those 175 workers, and what his message is to local contractors that have been raising allegations for years that they’ve been left out of the multi-billion dollar economic development project in favor of cheaper, illegal labor.

“I don’t know the specifics of the people that were arrested or whatnot, you need to talk to ICE and the feds about that. I can just tell you the unemployment rate in this part of the state and our state overall is a point below the national average, so people that want to work in Georgia, they can work. These companies have to have specialized workers for pieces of equipment they’re installing where they don’t have the skills to do that,” Kemp says. “But make no mistake, this company, Hyundai, is committed to hiring Georgians to work in that factory. As far as the construction part of this facility or any other, people need to follow the laws in our state, and the company certainly knows that, but again, I would refer you to them or the feds because it was their operation.”

Though ICE detained 475 people, Homeland Security says the operation was a result of their months-long investigation into illegal labor practices on the site.

Several of the companies named in the search warrant, including HL-GA Battery Company, SBY America, and Steel Brothers Development, were already under investigation by OSHA following several worker deaths on the site. The legal status of some of those workers remains unclear.

WTOC asked Kemp why state leaders didn’t call for Hyundai to follow the law prior to the ICE raid.

“We have always called for companies to follow the law, let’s be clear about that. You would, again, need to refer to the company about their workers or the feds about something. OSHA is a federal agency, it’s not a state agency,” says Kemp. “The company has been following state laws and state rules, and when they haven’t, we’ve called them out on that, whether it be environmental issues or other permitting issues, but in that instance, you’re going to have to refer to the feds or the company.”

It’s illegal under Georgia state law, not just federal law, to hire undocumented workers. Hyundai has received over a billion dollars in tax breaks from the State of Georgia for building here.

Kemp is scheduled to travel to South Korea in the coming weeks to focus on economic development. His office says the trip was planned before the raid.

You can view Kemp’s full remarks in the video above.