Photo: AJC

This story is from the liberal AJC (!)

Immigration authorities arrest 13 Korean workers at SK battery plant
Sept 24, 2020

Georgia’s largest economic-development project in a decade has been hit with its second round of arrests targeting illegal workers in four months.

Federal authorities on Wednesday arrested 13 Koreans employed at SK Innovation’s $2.6 billion construction site in Commerce, said Lindsay Williams, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman. They were later released on an “order of supervision,” he said, declining to discuss the matter further since it’s under investigation.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in May arrested 33 Koreans who were working at the SK plant without proper visas.

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The immigration crackdown comes as SK Innovation remains embroiled in a legal battle over battery technologies that could threaten the massive construction project. The International Trade Commission is expected to rule next month on a dispute between SK and rival LG Chem over a patent for technology slated to be used at the plant. An SK spokesman said the commission’s ruling won’t be final and is subject to appeals.

The 2.4 million-square-foot plant, located next to Interstate 85 in Jackson County, could eventually employ up to 2,600 workers. Georgia gave SK one of the biggest incentive packages in state history to locate there, including $300 million in grants, tax breaks and free land… Much more here.