South Korea plans to dispatch a chartered plane on Wednesday to return hundreds of citizens detained in last week’s immigration raid in the US state of Georgia, Korean Air has said.

Korean Air, South Korea’s flagship carrier, said on Tuesday that it would operate a flight to Atlanta, Georgia, to repatriate the workers following their arrest at the construction site of a South Korean-operated electric-vehicle battery plant.

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“Korean Air is planning to operate a charter flight to Atlanta tomorrow using a Boeing 747-8i,” a company spokesperson said.

US immigration authorities on Thursday detained about 475 people at the site of the $4.3bn Hyundai Motor Group-LG Energy Solution joint venture in Bryan County, Georgia.

About 300 of those swept up in the raid were South Korean nationals.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has launched a sweeping crackdown on unauthorised migration under the direction of US President Donald Trump, said the arrested individuals were found to be working illegally in violation of the terms of their visas.

The raid has provoked outrage in South Korea, which has poured billions of dollars in investment into the US in recent years, and ranks among Washington’s closest allies in Asia.

South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun, who called the detention of his countrymen a “grave situation”, departed for Washington, DC, on Monday for talks on the issue.

Cho is expected to seek assurances from US officials that the workers will not face a multi-year ban from re-entry to the US, as is typical for those subject to deportation.

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On Sunday, Trump issued a warning to foreign companies to “please respect” US immigration law, while insisting that foreign investment was welcome.

“What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers. Together, we will all work hard to make our Nation not only productive, but closer in unity than ever before,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.