Raid at U.S. battery factory forces Koreans into 'vacation'

A massive immigration raid on a battery plant in Georgia earlier this month continues to reverberate across the region with workers staying home and delays mounting.

Ken Shim, president of Woowon Technology Inc., says he’s had to provide paid time off to ease the stress of South Korean engineers installing equipment at a cell plant being built by Hyundai Motor Co. and Korea’s SK On Co. near Cartersville, Georgia.

Shim, an American citizen who has lived in the U.S. for more than a decade, stresses that his employees are all working legally — they have visas that allow for limited business activity such as training local hires and setting up equipment. But Hyundai and LG Energy Solution Ltd. also thought workers and subcontractors at their plant outside the city of Savannah on similar visa