Georgia raid netted those with short-term business visas

Almost 500 people were detained during a raid of a Georgia battery plant owned by two South Korean manufacturers last week, the largest immigration enforcement operation at one location in the history of the US department of homeland security. But in at least one instance, officials admitted a worker was employed legally but forced him to leave US anyway. As per the internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest records on 11 detainees that could be accessed, six had B1 or B1/B2 visas, issued for business trips of up to six months. Four entered through the visa waiver programme, which allows travel for 90 days. The records stated that all but one of the 11 were working unlawfully at the time of the raid but did not provide details about why. Two-thirds of the people arrested on Sept 4 were South Koreans.