South Koreans who were legally working in the U.S. but detained by ICE are now speaking out and filing a class action lawsuit
According to a report from ABC News, hundreds of South Korean workers who were legally working in the U.S. at the Hyundai / LG factory in Georgia are now speaking out. Although many were here on visas, they were detained by ICE during a raid in September.
Selina Wang of ABC News spoke with one of the workers who was detained, and he has yet to receive an explanation for his detainment. Asking to only be identified by his surname, Kim said, “Not once — neither before nor after the arrest — did anyone read us our rights or explain anything.”
Kim described the conditions terrifying, as they were cut off from the outside world and did not speak English. He said 60 to 80 people were placed in each “pod,” and the facility’s conditions were cold and unsanitary.
"While we were detained, the guards' behavior was very negative. I understand that there's a power imbalance between detainees and guards. But they went beyond that. Making comments about Kim Jong Un, pulling their eyes sideways to mock Asians," Kim said.
Hundreds of South Korean workers were detained for seven days before they were sent home.
Now, nearly 200 of these workers are preparing a class action lawsuit against ICE. The allegations include: unlawful policing, racial profiling, human rights violations, excessive force, and unlawful arrest.
"We just want to correct the record, because even now, we've never received neither an apology nor an explanation," Kim said. "I didn't do anything wrong. I want people to know that. I'm trying to have that acknowledged, to have the truth recognized."
“We — all Koreans — think the U.S. is a model for human rights," Kim Joon Hyung, a member of South Korea's National Assembly, said. "But the scene that we saw, is like they treated our workers, even with a residence card and the right visa, they treated [them] like a terrorist.”
