ELLABELL, Ga. — A former worker detained during the 2025 immigration raid at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America is seeking $2 million from the federal government, alleging that immigration officers used excessive force while taking him into custody.
Alfredo Fajardo Melgarejo filed an administrative claim with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Federal Tort Claims Act on September 4, 2026—one year after the enforcement operation at the Bryan County facility.
The filing is an administrative claim, not a lawsuit. It gives the responsible federal agency an opportunity to investigate and potentially resolve the demand. His attorneys say the matter could proceed to federal court if no resolution is reached.
Fajardo is represented by Centro de los Derechos del Migrante and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta.
According to the claim, armed officers entered Fajardo’s workspace and restrained him before establishing his identity or immigration status. He alleges that an officer pointed a rifle at him, grabbed him by the neck, forced him onto his stomach and tightly restrained his wrists.
The filing also alleges that an officer made a derogatory comment about Latinos and applied force to Fajardo’s lower back. Those allegations have not been tested in court.
Fajardo’s attorneys say his documents were inside his vehicle. The claim states that he showed an officer photographs of an employment authorization document, Georgia identification card, driver’s license and immigration-hearing notice.
The filing says an officer initially indicated that Fajardo could leave after his documents were verified. Instead, according to the claim, he was shackled and transported to the Folkston ICE Processing Center.
A search warrant reviewed in connection with the operation authorized a search of the facility and identified four people. Fajardo was not among those four. A search warrant and an arrest warrant serve different purposes, however, and his absence from that document alone does not establish whether officers had another legal basis for detaining him.
Federal officials previously said approximately 475 people were detained during the September 4, 2025 operation, which they characterized as the largest single-site enforcement action in Homeland Security Investigations history. The operation was connected to an investigation of alleged unlawful employment practices and other potential crimes.
Fajardo further alleges that he was denied a phone call for 11 days and received inadequate medical care and poor-quality food while detained. The claim says he spent months at the Folkston facility before being transferred to Louisiana around April 23, 2026.
According to the filing, he was deported to Colombia around May 13. His attorneys contend that the detention and deportation separated him from his family, cost him his job and caused physical, emotional and financial harm.
ICE had not provided a response to the claim or its allegations by the time the report was published.
Yolonda Harris
News Now Georgia
