Trump says foreign workers are ‘welcome’ after ICE raid in Georgia targets hundreds of South Koreans

President Donald Trump is trying to smooth things with South Korea after his administration stopped hundreds of workers in a Hyundai factory in Georgia at the beginning of the month. Only a few hours after reports indicated that South Korea would open up an investigation into human rights in the detention of Korean employees, Trump said that he did not want to “scare” foreign investments in the United States – something he did a priority during his second administration.

On September 4, immigration and customs’ application agents (ICE) came down to the electric vehicle battery plant operated by Hyundai and LG Energy Solutions, holding nearly 500 workers, including around 300 South Korea workers. ICE officials said workers have exceeded their visas or were not allowed to work in the United States, according to NBC News.

Workers interviewed by Korea Times Let’s say they were “chained and handcuffed”, then brought to the Ice detention center in Folkston, in Georgia, while their business and phones were confiscated. It is not clear if the workers were even eligible for expulsion, as The New York Times reported on Friday that “in at least one case, officials admitted that a worker was legally employed and forced him to leave the country anyway.”

As indicated by the TimesMany workers have entered the United States on a B1 visa for business trips, allowing them to stay in the United States for less than six months, or on a visa renunciation program, allowing them to stay up to 90 days. Some companies use short-term visas instead of H-1B visas, which allow foreign workers to stay in the United States up to six years, because they are less expensive, faster to obtain and less restrictive. “The previous American administrations had largely done the irmblance of the practice”, according to The guardian.

Trump called on foreign companies to invest more money in the United States to avoid paying expensive prices. Hyundai replied with the announcement in March that it would spend $ 21 billion in the United States from 2025 to 2028, with plans to extend car production in the United States to 1.2 million vehicles each year and improve its facilities. The abolition of hundreds of workers could delay these plans, because Hyundai has already rejected the opening of its Georgia factory.

The RAID triggered the indignation of the South Korean president Lee Jae Myung, who qualified the “extremely confusing” move and said that the companies in the country would be “very hesitant” to pay more money in the United States. South Korea Security Advisor, Wi Sung-Lac, added that the government would work with the United States to cut lighter directives for visa requirements, as well as potentially develop a new category for Korean workers, according to the Reuters.

The incident puts the Trump administration on fragile land with South Korea, which has long been an ally of the United States. In an article on Truth Social, President Trump wrote that he would like to bring foreign workers to the United States to “teach and train” employees based in the United States. “We welcome them, we welcome their employees and we are ready to proudly say that we will learn from them and that we will do even better than them in their own” game “, in the not too distant future!”