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.
South Korea is very,*very* strongly anti China.
“Trump...employed H2-B”
I know of no reason for any Trump Organization operation to need even one H-2B person.
I’m not claiming that there were no violations of US law involved here. I’m not a lawyer.What I do very strongly suspect is that any laws that might have been violated were violated unintentionally and because of that fact it should have been resolved by top US officials,top Hyundai executives and senior ROK diplomats...not with a raid reminiscent of a raid of an apartment building full of Guatemalan fentanyl dealers.
What companies are doing is avoiding hiring highly skilled Americans such as engineers or managers who might know something about visa laws, or who might build a battery plant for a Big 3 company.
If Americans can’t earn a good living by brain work, then the country will be run by foreigners in business and stupid Americans and foreigners in government.
“Made in Italy”
https://www.dw.com/en/prato-chinese-workers-transform-italys-fast-fashion-hub/a-73781599
The article doesn’t say, but think of how the Wu-flu got to you.
There are visas for that. Illegal status is not the answer.
Our economy also shouldn’t be based on foreign investment.
Trump’s big on that, but I’m not.
Hyundai is a multi billion dollar international company. I’m 1000% certain they knew what they were doing was illegal under US law and did it to save money anyway. Enforcement may have been a bit hamfisted but the law breakers should not be given the benefit of the doubt here. They’re guilt and trying to deflect.
Unless I’m very much mistaken DJT is less than 1000% certain of intentional lawbreaking. Probably much less certain. Given that DJT has access to info that you don’t I’ll be siding with Trump on this one.
I’d rather American cars made by American companies.
Hondas are clearly superior to just about everything made by The Big Three. So my question stands: A Honda made in Mexico...or one made in Ohio?
I would also bet that many here think that South Koreans coming to the States are the same as Mexicans seeking a better life here. To be honest, to the average Korean living in and around Seoul, (almost) any place in the US would be a significant downgrade. I have been to places in Asia (Beijing/Shanghai in China, Seoul in South Korea) and the Middle East (Dubai, Abu Dhabi) that seem like something out of Star Wars.
There is a reason all but one of those South Koreans decided to go home even as the President gave them a chance to stay. The one who decided to stay did so because he had family here.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread my Korean American girlfriend has told me that Koreans are outraged by what happened. She says that it’s caused a substantial anti American feeling in the country. I also stated earlier that she,a US citizen and a huge Trump supporter,is also angered by this incident.
I once worked at a business at a time when there were simply not enough workers (shipbuilding/ship repair) to go around. The owner bought a shipyard in Mexico to eventually turn into a profit center but immediately to import Mexican workers for “training”. He got the proper work visas for all of the employees. We were raided by ICE several times and none of our employees were detained. If a small shipyard in south Alabama can figure it out surely a multi-billion dollar company can, too.
My understanding is that a bunch of Korean ‘tourists’, who just happened to be experts in getting factories operating, just happened to converge on the Georgia plant - maybe to take pictures to post in Facebook, I guess.
Bottom line, NO COUNTRY permits foreign tourists to work in a country they’re visiting...and now the Koreans understand that the law also applies to them.
My shop works on them, so it’s not just a baseless personal opinion ...
The workers were sent by Hyundai.
It would have been the easiest thing in the world to have notified Hyundai and demanded they rectify their workers’ status rather then rounding them up like MS-13 members
“It would have been the easiest thing in the world to have notified Hyundai and demanded they rectify their workers’ status rather then rounding them up like MS-13 members”
Ask Taiwan how it’s going with their semiconductor plant in Arizona, at least under Biden’s Girls. They were told that dudes from LaHood would be just as good workers as Taiwanese. Taiwan learned a very tough lesson.
My theory is that Asians tend to idolize Americans, or at least American Education (if you can believe it), probably without knowing that something like 60% of advanced stem degrees go to foreigners and that most people graduating from our public schools are years behind academically compared to Asian high schools (where kids actually study).
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