Posted on 10/27/2025 8:04:47 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
President Donald Trump said Monday he was “very much opposed” to the immigration raid at a Hyundai electric vehicle plant in Georgia last month after an operation that saw hundreds of South Korean workers detained and sent home.
Nearly 500 employees were arrested during the Sept. 4 raid at Hyundai Motor Group’s facility in Ellabell, Georgia. Workers were sat on the factory floor as officers shackled their legs in scenes that caused outrage in South Korea, where the government scrambled to secure the workers’ release. They were eventually flown home on a chartered flight after urgent negotiations.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Japan, the first stop on his Asia trip, Trump said he didn’t agree with how the situation at the plant was handled.
“You know how I feel, I was very much opposed,” the president said.
He continued:
"Look, when they come in and they’re making very complex machinery, equipment, they’re going to have to bring some people in, at least at the initial phase. In that case, it was batteries. Batteries are very complex and they’re actually very dangerous to make. You can’t just pick people off an unemployment line and say, 'We just, you know, opened up a $2 billion battery factory.' So, we’ve got an understanding, and this is with the world, by the way. This is not just – this is when they come into our country, we have a lot of factories being built by outside by foreign interests."
Trump argued that foreign investors should be allowed to “bring in experts” to help establish U.S. operations:
"When they come in, some of these factories make very, very complex, very highly sophisticated equipment. They’ve got to bring people in with them for a period of time. They’ll teach our people how to do it, but even for a fairly long period of time, they’re going to need expertise to be successful. And we’re going to let people know. I’m letting them know right now that when they come into our country, we can expect to see them bring in with them some very talented people that have been doing it for many years. They’ll teach our people how to do it. Our people will be just as good as they are within a period of time and it’ll be a phase out, but we want them to bring in experts and that’s the way it is."
After a reporter followed up that his administration was doing a “whole new” visa plan, Trump said:
"I was opposed to getting them out and in fact before they got out they were pretty well set but before they got out I said they could say they went they left and they’re going to be coming back."
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned after the raid that confusion over visa rules may chill investment.
“Whether they should go at all,” Lee said, was now a question some firms were asking.
Korean techs were sent to Georgia to build out the plant, not to take all the manufacturing jobs once it was up and running. German and Japanese techs have done it before with their various US plants.
That's SOP for any such venture. When Exxon wants to build a refinery in Port of Spain, it doesn't spend two years training locals to create it from scratch.
Meanwhile, what would shock most Americans is the fact that the imagine of Koreans in shackles has continuously been front page news in Korea for weeks. Aside from being an affront to Korean national pride, the detentions highlight the fact that for years Korea has been asking for visa protection for workers sent here to install equipment.
Governor Kemp and US trade officials have been begging the Koreans to return without success. Perhaps President Trump can undo this mess.
Why should Trump fix this mess? The mess was created by Hyundai. If they needed the labor from Korea, they should’ve followed the proper protocol to get them here.
“Korean techs were sent to Georgia to build out the plant, not to take all the manufacturing jobs once it was up and running.”
They are still required to have visas to do that work.
The folks in charge failed to procure the appropriate visas for the workers and the workers paid the price.
Were these Korean techs here legally or illegally?
If legally, then Trump is right.
If illegally (as it appears), then Trump is dead wrong. We can’t have a two-tiered system here. If you’re an illegal, you’ve got to go.
Plus, it’s demoralizing to the ICE agents who are just trying to do their jobs.
If Hyundai can't get bringing workers into the nation right
why am I expected to believe they can build products right?
But as of the other day...when she last mentioned it...she's unconvinced. Maybe this piece will convince her.
This could be an interesting thread.
There are means to bring in experts. That is NOT what happened.
“No one is above the law.”
famous Democrat
Yes, Mr. President, but they could've used people in the country illegally.
Yes, they need to get the necessary approvals and the process in cases like this should be streamlined and contain the proper information as to what is being done, by who and for how long.
It’s not just the Korean workers who paid the price.
If we want foreign investment in American job creation, we’d better streamline the visa process.
From the story: “The U.S. side, made up of officials from the Departments of State, Homeland Security and Commerce, made clear that South Korean workers can install, service and repair equipment needed as part of South Korean business investment in the U.S., using the ESTA visa waver program and the B-1 temporary visas, South Korea’s foreign ministry said.”
If that’s the case, Hyundai should have been afforded the opportunity to reapply for their workers who were already here, rather than see them carted off as criminals.
There were several hundred Koreans.
I would assume one would know that a work visa would be required. We’ve been told Asian education is superior.
When I arrived in the UK, my passport was stamped “EMPLOYMENT AND RECOURSE TO PUBLIC FUNDS PROHIBITED” at Gatwick.
I understand their point on this, but to me it’s just like TSA pulling little old women out of line to give them a full screening occasionally so that they don’t appear to be stereotyping and profiling who they are really after.
You have to show that there is no discrimination involved in what they are doing, and this highlights that perfectly. Did they know what was going on with those workers? Of course, but if they just took the Mexicans that they were after and let the Koreans go then the discrimination claims would have been through the roof after that incident.
I hope Trump sits down this week and explains why it was that ICE and CBP just HAD to follow through on what they did due to the incredibly close scrutiny that was given to them during that search. It may have been a technicality but by not following through it will cast a huge discrimination shadow on the entire process if they didn’t do it.
What are you on about here? Your off-topic anti-black rant is embarrassing.
How much taxpayer money did they get to build the plant? But we’re ok with non-citizens getting all the jobs? This country is so screwed.
Tough shiite this is not their country!
Cretins find a way of tying their agenda to most anything.
Tell that to President Trump. (I think he has a somewhat better take than yours.)
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