ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Georgia could face economic backlash after a recent immigration raid on the massive Hyundai plant near Savannah, according to an attorney representing a dozen people who were detained.

A total of 475 people were arrested in the raid, and according to the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HIS), the detainees are “mainly” South Korean nationals.

But Charles Kuck, who is representing some of the people detained, said his clients did have valid work visas and were engineers and contractors helping to install parts of the plant that American workers didn’t have the expertise to do.

“None of that equipment is made in the United States, none. Which means the experts on servicing and installing that equipment are not U.S. citizens,” he said. “Much like we make products that aren’t made in other parts of the world and we send Americans over there to install it, that’s all that was going on.”

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Kuck said his clients, and many others, were on B-1 work visas or were in Georgia to work through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization program, known as ESTA, which allows for authorization for citizens of participating visa waiver program countries to visit the U.S. for 90 days or less for business or tourism. Others at the site were in the country illegally, he said. But Kuck is still trying to figure out how those Korean workers were caught up in what HIS called the largest immigration operation of its kind.

“(ICE) were clearly surprised that all these guys were on visas and were at the plant, without realizing that people that are on business visitor visas can be doing work,” he said.

“This in fact, was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security investigations,” said Steven Schrank, the director of Homeland Security Investigations in Atlanta. “This has been a multi-month criminal investigation where we have developed evidence, conducted interviews, gathered documents and presented that evidence to the court in order to obtain a judicial search warrant.”

Kuck said many of the Korean workers at the site would have been gone in three months. Some of his clients were only to be in the country for two weeks working on the plant when they were detained.

Kuck fears, echoed by government officials, including President Donald Trump, is that the detainment and removal of legal workers might stunt a company’s desire to invest in Georgia and in the U.S. generally.

“How are other countries supposed to trust us to do their investments here if we pick up their people that are making the investments happen,” he said. “Other types of industries that are investing in Georgia are wondering, should we even come now? Are we going to be able to get a visa? And if we get a visa, are you going to come arrest us because we’re putting the plant together? People are really scared about this.”

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“We do have to work something out where we bring in experts so that our people can be trained so that they can do it themselves,” Trump said Sunday. “The way you train people is bring people in that know what they’re doing and let them stay for a little while and help. So I’m going to look at that, it’s a very interesting situation.”

The Hyundai plant was touted by state officials, like Gov. Brian Kemp, as the largest economic development project in state history. It’s a $12.8 billion project, about 10% paid for by taxpayer-backed tax incentives.

“In Georgia, we will always enforce the law, including all state and federal immigration laws. All companies operating within the state must follow the laws of Georgia and our nation,” said a statement provided by a Kemp spokesperson. “The Department of Public Safety coordinated with ICE to provide all necessary support for this operation, the latest in a long line of cooperation and partnership between state law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement.”

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