Trump Offers Stay Permits For Hundreds Of South Korean Workers Arrested, Only One Person Is Willing

JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump offered residence permits for hundreds of South Korean workers arrested in immigration raids, but only one chose to stay.

Trump's offer aims to encourage workers to stay and train American citizens, according to South Korean officials. This resulted in the delay of one day of departure for charter planes to repatriate the workers.

The plane is now scheduled to leave the US in the afternoon.

TV footage shows workers riding a bus outside the barbed wire fence of the detention center at around 2 a.m. on Thursday, September 11 to head to Atlanta airport.

Unlike other US deportations, they were not handcuffed to meet South Korea's main demands, which were horrified by the raids, especially with the use of armored vehicles and shackles.

Sekitar 300 warga Korea Selatan ditangkap pekan lalu bersama lebih dari 150 orang lainnya di lokasi konstruksi di Georgia untuk proyek Hyundai Motor dan LG Energy Solution untuk produksi baterai mobil listrik.

Although the raids have been heralded by US immigration authorities, it threatens to disrupt the stability of relations at a time when the two countries are trying to finalize a trade deal, and scare South Korean investments in the United States desperate to be secured by Trump.

"Our businesses that have entered the United States are most likely in serious confusion," President Lee Jae Myung told a news conference on Thursday to mark his first 100 days in office.

The lawmakers in Seoul admit there may be some violations of the 90-day visa-free program limits or B-1 temporary business visas.

However, South Korean companies have also complained for years that they have struggled to get short-term work visas for specialists needed in their high-tech factories in the US, and have relied on the gray zone in the form of a looser interpretation of visa rules under the previous American administration.