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Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump on Sunday warned foreign companies to obey US law after immigration officials arrested some 475 individuals including South Korean workers at a Hyundai-LG battery plant being built in the southern state of Georgia.
The arrests were made in a raid by US authorities on Thursday during the largest single-site operation implemented so far under Trump’s nationwide anti-migrant drive.
“Please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws,” the president posted on social media Sunday.
“Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people... What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers.”


Footage of the raid showed detained workers, in handcuffs and with chains around their ankles, being loaded onto a bus.
Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia, told reporters that the raid targeted “unlawful employment practices going on at this massive, 100-acre construction site”.
LG Energy Solution has said 47 of its employees were arrested - 46 South Koreans and one Indonesian.
The company has also said about 250 of those arrested were believed to be employed by its contractor, and most of them were South Koreans.
Schrank said that some of the detained workers had illegally crossed the US border, while others had entered the country legally but had expired visas or had entered on a visa waiver that prohibited them from working.
Local media reports said many Korean companies have resorted to the visa waiver programme known as ESTA, intended for short-term business trips up to 90 days, when they have to dispatch employees immediately.

In addition to being a key security ally on the Pacific Rim, South Korea is Asia’s fourth-biggest economy and a key carmaker and electronics producer with multiple plants in the United States.
Seoul has heeded Trump’s repeated call for global investment in US businesses during his tariff negotiations with countries around the world.
Last month, hours after South Korean President Lee Jae-myung met with Trump in Washington, Korean Air announced it would purchase 100 Boeing aircraft, inking the largest deal in South Korea’s aviation history. Seoul also pledged US$350 billion in US investment in July.
And South Korea secured an agreement for a 15 per cent tariff for exports to the United States - significantly below the 25 per cent that Trump had earlier threatened to introduce.
Domestically, Trump has promised to revive the US manufacturing sector while also vowing to deport millions of undocumented migrants.
While admonishing investors on Sunday to abide by the law, Trump appeared to acknowledge a skill deficiency in the domestic workforce.

“ICE was doing right because they were here illegally,” he said of the raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that has strained relations with South Korea.
“But we do have to work something out where we bring in extras so that our people can be trained so that they can do it themselves.”
Seoul said Sunday that negotiations to secure the release of the detained workers had been concluded. Yonhap news agency quoted South Korean Consul General in Washington Cho Ki-joong as saying the workers would likely board a plane on Wednesday.
“The immediate priority now is the swift release of both our LG Energy Solution employees and those of our partner firms,” company executive Kim Ki-soo told reporters before boarding a plane to Georgia earlier in the day.
Hyundai has said none of those arrested were its employees.
With hundreds detained, the size of the Georgia raid is a departure from operations elsewhere.
In Los Angeles, immigration agents have repeatedly raided small businesses, targeting hardware stores, restaurants, car washes and street vendors.
“We’re going to do more worksite enforcement operations,” White House border tsar Tom Homan told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “No one hires an illegal alien out of the goodness of their heart. They hire them because they can work them harder, pay them less, undercut the competition that hires US citizen employees.”
Additional reporting by Bloomberg, Associated Press and Reuters


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United States

Trump warns foreign companies after South Koreans detained in huge US raid

Workers being detained at the raid on Thursday. Photo: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement via EPA

Workers being escorted on Thursday. Photo: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington in August. Photo: AFP

South Korea pledges support to citizens arrested in US immigration raid at Hyundai plant

An American flag flies above a piece of heavy machinery at the site of Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicle plant in Ellabell, Georgia, on Friday. Photo: AP

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun says he feels “heavy responsibility” for the arrests of more than 300 South Koreans in the US immigration raid. Photo: EPA/Yonhap

The Hyundai Metaplant, an electric vehicle assembly factory, opened in October 2024 along I-16 west of Savannah. Photo: Hyundai/TNS

Seoul says over 300 South Koreans detained in US Hyundai site raid to be released

More than 300 South Koreans were among 475 people arrested by US immigration officials in a raid on a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia on Thursday. Photo: ICE/AFP


The Hyundai Metaplant, an electric vehicle assembly factory in Savannah, Georgia. Photo: Hyundai/TNS

Hyundai employees waiting to have their legs shackled at the group’s electric vehicle plant in Georgia on Thursday. Photo: via AP

Hyundai employees being escorted outside the Georgia plant on Thursday. Photo: via AP

Seoul expresses ‘concern’ over US immigration raid at Hyundai’s Georgia plant

A Hyundai Motor’s electric car Ioniq at a electric charging station in Seoul. Photo: Reuters

The Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Ellabell, Georgia. Photo: AP

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World

United States & Canada

Asia

East Asia

US president says foreign firms need to respect US immigration laws, as South Korea works bring detained workers home


US president says foreign firms need to respect US immigration laws, as South Korea works bring detained workers home.
