The ICE raid on Hyundai’s battery plant in Georgia was the largest single-site operation in the department’s history – but the automaker’s CEO said he only learned about it from the news.

José Muñoz, who took the helm at the South Korean company in January, said he was working out of his California office when officials rounded up 475 workers at the Hyundai-LG factory on Sept. 4.

“I could not believe what I saw because I would’ve known normally before the news,” he told CNN Thursday during a media roundtable. 3

He added that he likely wasn’t notified immediately because the EV battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia, is operated by South Korea’s LG Energy Solution.

More than 300 South Korean workers were detained by ICE during the raid and deported back to South Korea last week via a

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