Illegal labor, exploitation of workers at center of Hyundai megasite raid

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officials say Thursday’s raid on the Hyundai megasite was centered on illegal labor.

“The Department of Justice’s mission is to reduce illegal employment and prevent employers from gaining an unfair advantage by hiring unauthorized workers and exploiting those workers,” says Meg Heap, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, at a news conference on Friday.

The raid was focused on HL-GA Battery Company, which operates on the Hyundai megasite. The company is owned jointly by Hyundai and LG. Heap added details on the investigation into the company are limited, but it is certainly related to the presence of undocumented workers on the site.

Steven Schrank, the Special Agent in Charge of HSI, says those arrested were employees not just of the battery company.

“There was a network of subcontractors and subcontractors for the subcontractors there, so the employees worked for a variety of different companies that were on the site,” says Schrank.

According to Schrank, the majority of the people arrested are Korean, and are currently being held at an ICE detention center in Folkston.

Reuters first reported a spokesperson for the Korean Foreign Ministry denounced the operation, saying “The economic activities of our companies investing in the United States and the interests of our citizens must not be unduly violated during the course of U.S. law enforcement.”

The presence of undocumented workers on the site is something WTOC Investigates has been following since December. We first reported major safety hazards on the site that whistleblowers Kevin Souza and Fernando Garcia said had everything to do with the legal status of workers.

“These workers are undocumented. So they can treat them however they want to, and they do,” Souza told WTOC in December 2024.

Local contractors also expressed frustration to WTOC, saying they felt passed over in favor of illegal labor. A WTOC Investigation found the majority of contractors and subcontractors employed on the megasite are not local.

“We haven’t been able to get our local contractors out there to get some work because we don’t work the undocumented workers. We work American workers,” Barry Zeigler, the business manager of the Local 188, told WTOC in March 2025.

Special Agent Schrank said the investigation began with a variety of tips, but that the agency followed WTOC Investigates’ reporting.

“We have monitored that reporting as well. We’ve also received many leads from community members, from prior workers. We have developed evidence over the course of many months,” says Schrank.

No charges have been filed in this case as of Friday.

However, a redacted version of the search warrant federal agents obtained to enter the site details the government is investigating a conspiracy to harbor or shield undocumented workers, as well as illegal employment practices.

Agents were originally looking for four people.

The warrant also allowed federal officials to obtain records from HL-GA Battery Company, as well as contractors TK LLC, Autorica LLC, SBY America, Beyond Iron Construction, and Steel Brothers Development. In addition to being targets of the raid, all of those companies (except Autorica) have also been the subjects of Occupational Safety & Health Administration investigations.