South Korean Workers Detained in Georgia Immigration Raid Return Home

INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in the United States last week were brought back home on a charter plane and reunited with their loved ones on Friday.

They were among the 475 people detained during the Sept. 4 immigration raid at a battery factory under construction on the campus of Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant west of Savannah, Georgia.

Their roundup and the U.S. release of video showing some Korean workers shackled with chains around their hands, ankles and waists have caused public outrage and a sense of betrayal in South Korea, a key U.S. ally.

After their charter plane, a Boeing 747-8i from Korean Air, landed at Incheon International Airport, near Seoul, they appeared in an arrivals hall, with senior officials including presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik clapping hands.

“We feel sorry that we failed to bring them back home earlier, but we did our best,” Kang said.

Hundreds of journalists gathered at the airport to cover their arrival, with many ordinary citizens shouting “Welcome back!” One protester unfurled a huge banner with a photo of U.S. President Donald Trump and a message criticizing U.S. immigration crackdowns before security officials persuaded him to stop. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry asked media to blur the workers’ faces in videos and photos taken at the airport, citing requests by the workers who worried about their privacy.

The plane carried 330 people who were detained in the Georgia raid — 316 of them are South Koreans, including a pregnant woman, and the rest are Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian workers. They had been held at an immigration detention center in Folkston, 285 miles (460 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta.

On the flight back home, Kang said the workers clapped and shouted with joy.

Families waited anxiously in a multi-level parking lot near the airport terminal. As the elevator doors opened, each group of workers stepped out to hurried embraces from their relatives.

Hwang In-song, the…