Hundreds of South Korean nationals detained

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Federal and immigration agents arrested 475 people while executing a judicial search warrant at a Hyundai facility in Georgia as part of a criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices.

Everyone arrested, most of them South Korean nationals, were "illegally present in the United States or in violation of their presence in the United States, working unlawfully," Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia, said at a news conference Friday morning.

It was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security Investigations, Schrank said, adding it “underscores our commitment to jobs for Georgians and Americans."

A sea of agents from HSI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies showed up Thursday to a construction site in the town of Ellabell, where the South Korean companies Hyundai and LG Energy Solution are jointly building a battery plant next to their manufacturing facility for electric vehicles.

Videos on social media showed agents lining up hundreds of workers at the construction site. Schrank said they questioned everyone about their immigration status, reviewing their documents and conducting background checks.

"This was not a immigration operation where agents went into the premises, rounded up folks and put them on buses. This has been a multimonth criminal investigation," Schranck said.

No criminal charges in connection to the investigation had been filed as of Friday.

On Friday afternoon, a judge in the Southern District Court of Georgia unsealed the 15-page search warrant allowing federal agents to go into “the lithium battery cell manufacturing plant” on the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America campus “that is currently under construction.”

The warrant authorized federal agents to seize employment records and immigration documents as well as ownership and management records related to the construction site.

According to the warrant, authorities were also looking for four individuals, but the reasons why the federal government was specifically interested in them remains under seal.

U.S. Attorney Margaret E. Heap said in a statement that more than 400 agents participated in the massive enforcement action, which is part of the broader nationwide initiative “Operation Take Back America,” described as an effort “to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations.”

The South Korean government responded to the detentions of many of their nationals in a statement Friday.

“In the course of U.S. law enforcement, the economic activities of our investment firms and the rights and interests of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed upon," said Lee Jae-woong, a spokesperson for South Korea's foreign ministry. "We conveyed our concern and regret to the U.S. Embassy today and urged them to take special care to ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of our nationals are not violated.”

Jae-woong added that an on-site task force will be established in Georgia with the help of the South Korean consulate in Atlanta.

Charles Kuck, an Atlanta-based immigration attorney representing two of the detained South Korean nationals, told NBC News his clients were in the U.S. on the Visa Waiver Program which permits tourism or business stays of up to 90 days.