Letter to Hyundai from Latino Organizations
January 30, 2026
Euisun Chung
Executive Chair
Hyundai Motor Group
José Muñoz
President and Chief Executive Officer
Hyundai Motor Company
Re: Accountability for September 4, 2025 Raid at Ellabell Facility
Dear Mr. Chung and Mr. Muñoz,
We are writing as a coalition of eight Latino organizations, joined by 19 organizations nationwide who have signed on in solidarity. Together, we represent workers, families, and communities directly impacted by the September 4, 2025 immigration raid at your Ellabell facility.
This letter is about accountability. It is about the 175 Latino workers who were detained that day and the families who are still separated from their loved ones – mothers, fathers, wives and husbands – who worked at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) to support their partners and children and their own aspirations and dreams of a better life. We write to you about what Hyundai needs to do now to protect the people whose labor has made your Georgia operation possible.
We demand that Hyundai:
Include worker protection clauses adopting National Employment Law Project (NELP) and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) policy in all contractor agreements
Practice a written response plan with workers in case of ICE raids
Stop any voluntary cooperation with ICE
Train staff to bar entry to ICE without valid warrants
Provide paid “Know Your Rights” trainings for workers
Remind workers of their rights to remain silent and to an attorney as well as document all events during ICE raids
Connect with local immigration response networks to support impacted families
Pay all owed wages, provide separation pay, and contribute to legal defense funds to detained workers
Give time for work authorization applications and provide job references for workers
Include regular audits of compliance with consequences for violations
Match the $5 million contribution made earlier to Savannah State with investments going toward organizations supporting immigrant families, immigration legal defense funds, providing paid “Know Your RIghts” trainings and legal clinics, funding emergency financial assistance for impacted families, and offering work development such as immigration support
Investment in Georgia
Hyundai is investing $12.6 billion in Georgia with $7.6 billion alone invested in the Metaplant, the largest economic development project in Georgia’s history. Additional millions are being invested in Georgia universities and technical colleges, and recently Hyundai announced a $5 million donation to Savannah State University.
Hyundai’s billions in investment in Georgia communities are welcomed, and they must extend to the safety of the workers producing the electric and hybrid cars and batteries that are driving the economic growth. Federal workers stormed the Ellabell plant on September 4, 2025 and detained 475 workers in the largest single-site enforcement operation in Homeland Security Investigations history. Of those workers, 175 Latino workers from Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela and over 300 South Korean workers were detained.
Workers compared the raid to a war-zone, describing being surrounded by helicopters, drones, and military-style vehicles. Heavily armed ICE agents confiscated phones and pressured individuals to sign papers without legal representation. Despite the warrant only naming four people, workers were physically beaten and indiscriminately detained as agents used tear gas to lock down the plant.
Workers with valid work permits were told their documents would not be valid before being detained. In one case, agents grabbed the hand of a Mexican worker who could neither read nor write and forced him to sign documents he could not comprehend.
This wasn’t workplace enforcement; these were militarized operations carried out against civilians trying to provide for their families. Almost five months later, seven Latino workers – including people with valid permits and asylum applications – are still separated from their families. Many workers were deported or chose to self-deport when it was clear after spending days in inhumane conditions they would not have the legal and financial resources to advocate for their case. People are still fighting for their freedom while being held in inhumane conditions where they are denied live-saving medicine like insulin and inhalers, left without medical attention for days, fed insufficient or expired food and forced to compete for clean water.
Abandoning the families who built the Hyundai plant as they are torn apart is not economic development; it is extraction. Workers are not disposable resources – they are hard-working people who make “driving innovation” possible while also providing better lives for their families. Hyundai cannot claim to be investing in Georgia communities while treating Georgia’s workers this way.
Hyundai’s Commitment to Workers
As Oscar Kwon, former CEO of HMGMA, said, “It is as important for us to create a comfortable and welcoming work environment for our Metaplant employees, also known as Meta Pros, as it is for us to create an energy-efficient and technologically advanced plant. It is essential for our Meta Pros to be happy, comfortable and safe in their work environment for long-lasting careers at HMGMA.” To ensure the safety and protection of workers, Hyundai must adopt the workplace protection policies authored by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC).
Before any Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, Hyundai must practice a written response plan with workers, train staff to bar entry to ICE without valid warrants, provide paid “Know Your Rights” trainings for all workers, and connect with local immigration response networks who can support families with legal, financial and other concerns if ICE agents come to Hyundai’s facilities.
During ICE raids, Hyundai must demand judicial warrants for entrance into private areas. The company should decline to help ICE sort workers by status or country and share which employees are working. Employees have rights when ICE goes to a worksite, and Hyundai should remind workers of their right to remain silent and right to an attorney, as well as document everything happening during the enforcement raid.
After ICE raids, Hyundai can show its commitment to detained workers by paying all owed wages immediately, providing separation pay, and contributing to legal defense funds. By also giving time for work authorization applications and providing job references, Hyundai honors Kwon’s statement of support for Metaplant workers.
If Hyundai is serious about worker safety, it must stop voluntary cooperation with ICE. This would mean no proactive facilitation of raids or audits, no handing over worker information without warrants, and no access to private areas without judicial warrants. Workers include every person working on Hyundai’s property, building the facility and contributing to Hyundai’s economic output. All contractor agreements must include worker protection clauses that adopt the NELP-NILC policy and include regular audits of compliance with consequences for violations.
As Euisun Chung, Executive Chair of Hyundai Motor Group said, "Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America not only represents the Group’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and commitment to innovation, but also our investment in relationships with our partners and communities right here in Georgia.” Since the September 4 raid Hyundai has donated $5 million to Savannah State University, which is a testament to the company’s commitment to seeing Georgia flourish. To further underscore Hyundai’s investment in Georgia’s communities, we demand Hyundai match this contribution and support the workers that make the company’s manufacturing and innovation possible. This financial investment would go towards partnering with organizations supporting immigrant families, donating to immigration legal defense funds, providing paid “Know Your Rights” trainings and legal clinics, funding emergency financial assistance for separated families, and offering work development such as immigration support.
Long Term Impacts
The devastating effects of the September 4 raid are widespread and have long-term ramifications. Local businesses are struggling to keep their doors open and are facing double-digit drops in revenue and potential bankruptcy after their reliable customers were handcuffed and detained. Parents are keeping their children at home, families are avoiding seeking medical care, and people are afraid to go to work – all because they are terrified that ICE will target them next. When immigrant workers are afraid that going to their jobs might mean they will not come home, entire communities suffer.
Workers are the talent that build Hyundai’s facilities, cars and batteries and drive the company’s economic growth. The workers at Hyundai are people with families who deserve protection and dignity and who bet their futures on the Ellabell plant. Almost five months after the raid, seven Latino workers that were detained in the ICE raid are still separated from their families and are still fighting their case. Many have signed voluntary departures and others have already been deported after spending days in inhumane conditions at Georgia’s detention centers.
Moving Forward
In the aftermath of the raid, 79 coalition members wrote an open letter calling elected officials to act, and now we are calling on Hyundai to do the same. After investing $12.6 billion in Georgia with $7.6 billion at the Ellabell plant, Hyundai has a stake in the community. Drew Ferguson, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs said, “Hyundai is proud of our long-term commitment to Georgia. This includes investing billions of dollars and creating thousands of jobs in our manufacturing facilities and the supplier ecosystem. It also includes giving back to the communities where our team members live and work.”
Latino and immigrant workers built Hyundai’s facilities, and they deserve the commitments of safety, protection, and happiness promised to them in statements made by Hyundai leadership. Hyundai has made generous contributions of $5 million to Savannah State University and millions to local organizations in Georgia in its social responsibility initiatives. We know Hyundai could help its workers – all the people who have built and made the Metaplant possible – by matching those contributions and providing them and their families the financial and legal support they need while they fight their cases.
Hyundai has a choice to uphold the commitments it has made to our community by adopting NELP-NILC’s workplace protection policies and providing resources for impacted workers and their families, or to continue business as usual. Across our state and beyond, families are waiting for answers, still hoping for justice, and still fighting for their loved ones’ freedom. We urge Hyundai to stand with working families and honor the investment, relationship, and commitments Hyundai has made to our community. We await your response.
Respectfully,
Latino Organizations
Migrant Equity Southeast
CASA
Centro de los Derechos del Migrante
GALEO Impact Fund
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA)
Poder Latinx
Southeast Immigrant Rights Network (SEIRN)
Sur Legal Collaborative
Organizations Signing in Solidarity with Latino Organizations
Asian American Advocacy Fund
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta
Asian Student Alliance
Common Cause Georgia
Demo Lab South
Everything Left and Center Glynn
Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network
Georgia Muslim Voter Project
Gwinnett County Young Democrats
Indivisible Georgia Coalition
Japanese American Citizens League
Jobs To Move America
People Power United
Project South
Represent GA Action Network
Savannah Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America
Southern Workers Assembly
The Rainbow Collective
