WTOC Exclusive: SEDA, JDA respond to megasite raid

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Following ICE’s raid of the Hyundai megasite, the CEO of the Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA) says getting construction back on track is their main priority.

Almost two weeks ago, Homeland Security raided the Hyundai megasite in Bryan County, arresting 475 people they say were working illegally.

Around 300 of those people were South Korean nationals that were doing proprietary jobs Americans could not. A week after the raid, the Trump administration offered to let them stay and continue working.

All of the workers but one opted to return to South Korea.

Trip Tollison, the CEO of SEDA says the whole situation is indicative of a larger issue.

“That shows me that we have a very flawed system and it needs to be fixed as soon as possible. If they truly did something wrong and if they were truly here, you know, different illegal ways, then the administration wouldn’t come to them and say, would you like to stay? We’d love for you to stay,” says Tollison.

However, the fate of the other roughly 175 non-Korean people that were arrested remains unclear.

ICE says those workers were undocumented, working on the construction site of a company that has received over a billion dollars of tax breaks to build in the State of Georgia. The Joint Development Authority (JDA), which SEDA is part of, collaborated with the Georgia Department of Economic Development to offer those tax breaks.

We brought up allegations of illegal labor at the Hyundai site to Tollison in March, after local contractors said they had been left out of work at the site in favor of cheaper, illegal labor. At the time, Tollison denied that was the case.

We asked Tollison if, in light of the raid, he’s changed his stance.

“I don’t think so. I don’t know. I just know that there are a lot of entities, subcontractors, contractors that, in my opinion, should probably do a better job in vetting who’s on their payroll. This is a problem all over the United States,” says Tollison. “It’s no secret that there are folks here that are doing a lot of work and, you know, whether, whatever ethnicity they have, they’re expected to be here legally. And, and we often assume that, but at the same time we don’t drill down to the subcontractor levels.”

The Hyundai site is not the only SEDA-involved project that’s been on the federal government’s radar for illegal labor practices in recent months.

Following a WTOC Investigation, Egreen Transport Corporation, which was leasing space on a SEDA-owned property from a company that had received tax abatements from SEDA, went under federal investigation for labor trafficking. Now, a variety of companies involved in the Hyundai project are also under federal investigation for illegal labor practices, with Homeland Security saying labor trafficking charges are not off the table.

We asked Tollison if SEDA and the JDA need to overhaul their vetting procedures when it comes to companies the organizations are offering tax incentives to.

“As far as where we are, you know, as a marketing entity that brings or tries to recruit these businesses here, we expect them to follow the law. We expect them to do exactly what all the other businesses do in our region. The fact that there have been a couple of cases over the last 18 months is concerning,” says Tollison. “But going forward, it could be more of a conversation for sure. But at the same time, you know, we really don’t get involved with making sure you understand the law, make sure that you abide by this and that is to be expected.”

We asked if SEDA and the JDA should be having conversations with foreign companies about legal matters, particularly pertaining to employment law.

“We expect that they do probably at higher levels especially when you’re dealing with an international situation like this. I would think that the Foreign Ministry in South Korea understands that, companies understand that, but that’s way above my pay grade,” Tollison says.

We reached out to ICE for an update on the status of the non-South Korean people that were detained in the Hyundai megasite raid, but haven’t heard back.

The South Korea Times is reporting the country is looking into potential human rights abuses of its citizens during the raid.

Watch full interview below: