Post-ICE Raid, Hyundai to Continue With Plans to Spend $2.7 Bil in Ga.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 4 Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on the Ellabell, Ga., electric car-battery factory being built by carmaker Hyundai and battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution — both South Korean corporations — that resulted in the arrests of 475 foreign workers, most of whom were South Korean citizens, Hyundai on Sept. 18 said it would go forward with its previously announced plans to spend $2.7 billion to increase vehicle production capacity at the Ellabell site, according to the Associated Press. News of the raid, with reports of those arrested being physically restrained with handcuffs and chains, and detained under “deplorable conditions,” left South Koreans and their government in shock. South Korean President Lee Jae Myun quoted as saying Korean businesses would “hesitate to make direct investments in the United States.” A legal representative for four of the detained workers said most of the 320 South Koreans who were detained had B-1 visas or were in the U.S. with a visa waiver. A chartered Korean Air Boeing 747-8i that left Atlanta with 316 South Korean nationals, 10 Chinese nationals, three Japanese nationals and one Indonesian arrived in Seoul on Sept. 12. After the raid on the battery plant site, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus issued a statement that in part read: “Instead of targeting violent criminals, the Trump administration is going after immigrants at work and in communities of color to meet its mass deportation quotas.” A Georgia-based special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations was quoted as saying the detainees were “illegally present in the United States or in violation of their presence in the United States, working unlawfully.”
Report: Most Prisoners Held at Honouliuli Internment Camp Were Koreans
According to a report in the Honolulu Civil Beat, the majority of 4,000 prisoners held at the Honouliuli internment camp during World War II were Koreans. The camp was best-known for incarcerating 400 Japanese Americans who resided in Hawaii before Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor (see Oct. 8, 2024, Pacific Citizen, tinyurl.com/y58tndk4). The report said that the 2,700 Koreans were captured prisoners of war, many of whom had been conscripted into the Japanese military.
Golden State Valkyries’ Natalie Nakase Named WNBA Coach of the Year
After leading the Golden State Valkyries to 23 regular season wins, head coach Natalie Nakase was named Coach of the Year by State Street Investment Management in partnership with the WNBA. Under Coach Nakase, the Valkyries also became the league’s first expansion team to the make the playoffs in an inaugural season. Elsewhere in professional sports, the NFL’s Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels placed a Japanese flag decal on the back of his helmet, below an American flag sticker, in tribute to his Japanese great-grandmother.
Calif. Judges Assn. Honors Gogo With Humanitarian Award for Flag Project
Since 2021, Superior Court of Santa Clara County Judge Johnny Cepeda Gogo has been getting Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II by the federal government to sign a 48-star U.S. flag as a gesture of healing. On Sept. 13, the California Judges Assn. honored the Guam-born Gogo with its Alba Witkin Humanitarian Award for his efforts. In addition to a crystal award for Gogo, the CJA prize included a $1,000 donation to the charity or organization of his choice.
Jury: L.A. County Awards Filmmaker $3 mil+ After Injury From Projectile
After movie director Cellin Gluck sued Los Angeles County for negligence and battery following his getting hit in the face by a projectile shot by a sheriff’s deputy at a 2020 police brutality protest, a jury last month awarded the filmmaker $3.5 million for violating his civil rights. The jury also awarded his daughter, Caroline, $300,000. The Los Angeles Times reported, however, that because the jury also concluded that Gluck was 20% responsible for the harm done and the crowd was 15% responsible, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Shultz reduced the amount of the jury’s award by 35% to $2.275 million for Cellin Gluck and $195,000 for Caroline Gluck. The impact of the rubber bullet not only fractured Gluck’s face, its impact also embedded shrapnel into his nasal cavity and “left him with permanent disfigurement, vision problems and severe emotional trauma.” Gluck is the son of J. F. Gluck and Sumiye Hiramoto, a Nisei from Lodi, Calif. Gluck directed 2015’s “Persona Non Grata,” which told the story of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara during WWII.
— P.C. Staff
