President Donald Trump has offered the 300 South Koreans rounded up and detained during an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in Georgia the opportunity to stay in the U.S.
"Each person was allowed to choose, and the U.S. government said essentially, ‘If you want to go, you may go; if you want to stay, you may stay,’" South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said at a news conference Thursday, adding that one person had chosen to stay.
The offer marks a turnaround from the raid last week, when Trump urged foreign companies to "please respect our nation’s immigration laws" and "hire and train American workers."
Trump’s overture was intended to allow South Koreans with unlawful immigration status to stay and train American workers.
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Some 300 South Koreans were arrested last week along with 150 others at a Georgia construction site for a $4.3 billion Hyundai and LG Energy Solution factory to build car batteries.
The raid was touted by Trump administration immigration authorities but came at a delicate time in the relationship between the U.S. and its ally South Korea. The two nations are engaged in trade negotiations, and Trump has been encouraging South Korea to build plants in the U.S.
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Lee said South Korean businesses operating in the U.S. were in a "serious state of confusion."
South Korean companies have said for years that they’ve struggled to obtain short-term work visas for their specialists and had come to rely on a lax interpretation of the immigration law that previous administrations had allowed for them.
After the raid, Washington and Seoul will engage in discussions about establishing a new visa category for Koreans, the nation’s foreign minister, Cho Hyun, said.
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"Our businesses that are investing in the United States will no doubt be very hesitant," Lee warned.
Reuters contributed to this report.
