Trump made a big mess of things with his unwise immigration raid at a US Hyundai plant.
Betrayed
The Independent reports South Koreans feel betrayed over detainment of hundreds of workers at plant raid in Georgia.
The Sept. 4 raid at a battery factory of the Hyundai plant in Georgia led to the detainment of 475 workers, more than 300 them South Koreans, some of whom were shown being shackled around their hands, ankles and waists in video released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
South Korean political community roiled by the U.S. raid.
“If U.S. authorities detain hundreds of Koreans in this manner, almost like a military operation, how can South Korean companies investing in the U.S. continue to invest properly in the future?” said Cho Jeongsik, a lawmaker from the liberal governing Democratic Party.
Another lawmaker, Kim Gi-hyeon from the conservative opposition People Power Party, said the “unacceptable” raid dealt South Korea a “severe blow that will be difficult to heal.”
Some lawmakers even called for the government to retaliate by investigating Americans who are alleged to work illegally in South Korea.
In South Korea, many remain stunned at the raid that came after the country in late July promised to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into U.S. investments as part of a tariff deal. In late August, Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung also held their first summit meeting in Washington.
“The way that Trump is pressuring the Korean government and inflicting damages on its people is very rough and unilateral,” said Kim Taewoo, former head of Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification. “Can this be forgotten easily in South Korea? In a long-term perspective, it won’t be good for U.S. national interests as well.”
Pretty Please, Don’t Go, Says Trump
The preceding article was from September 8. The next one is from September 11.
Please consider Trump tried to convince deported South Korean workers to stay and train Americans
Donald Trump attempted to convince the South Korean workers arrested during an immigration raid to stay and train Americans before they left, officials in Seoul said.
It has now emerged that Trump asked his officials to “encourage” the detained South Korean workers to extend their stay in the country and train American employees, foreign ministry officials in Seoul said at a briefing.
The president “emphasised that the detained Korean nationals were skilled workers and suggested they either remain in the U.S. to contribute to training the American workforce or be returned to South Korea, depending on Seoul’s stance”, a South Korean official said, according to the Financial Times.
The workers were initially due to fly home as early as Wednesday. But Trump’s overture resulted in a one-day delay to the departure of their chartered flight.
Last week’s raid sent shockwaves through South Korea and raised questions about the viability of Korean firms doing business in the U.S.
South Korean businesses had already been complaining about strict U.S. limits on visas for skilled workers from the east Asian country, which they said made it hard for them to quickly dispatch staff to address the complexities of constructing cutting-edge factories or to train local workers.
South Korean president Lee Jae Myung said the raid could affect investment decisions made by Korean companies.
Confusion, Anger, Relief
The Wall Street Journal comments on the Confusion, Anger, Relief of a Week in U.S. ICE Detention
Cho Young-hee, a 44-year-old South Korean engineer, said his first reaction was confusion when U.S. immigration authorities burst into a Hyundai Motor construction site in Georgia where he was working.
He couldn’t tell what the men with guns and armored vehicles were doing there, and no English-to-Korean translators were to be found. Maybe it was an inspection of some kind, he supposed.
“We thought we’d just be taken somewhere for further questions, but they put on handcuffs and chained our bodies,” Cho recalled. “That’s when we realized, we’re not simply being moved.”
Back in South Korea, Cho’s wife, Lee Seul-bi, got a call informing her of her husband’s detention. She thought it was fake. After all, he had a B-1 visa to enter the U.S. for short-term business when he traveled there in mid-July. The visa allows activities such as business meetings, training and working with industrial equipment in certain cases but isn’t carte blanche for any kind of work.
At the detention center, Cho was assigned a prison uniform. He shared a room with one other person where they ate, slept and relieved themselves. He got little information about why he was behind bars, and even Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities seemed unsure of what was going on. “It felt like our basic human rights weren’t being guaranteed,” he said.
Outside, the raid had turned into an international cause célèbre. South Korean leaders were calling for the detainees to be released. The day was initially set for Wednesday but got delayed, Seoul officials said, when Trump wondered if the Koreans would like to stay in the U.S. after their release and keep working.
Deportation Blowback
The Wall Street Journal comments on the Deportation Blowback in South Korea
Still think mass deportation has no economic or political consequences? The fallout from last week’s blunderbuss raid on a Hyundai plant in Georgia continues to reverberate in South Korea, and it pays to listen to President Lee Jae Myung’s remarks this week.
“This could significantly impact future direct investment in the U.S.,” Mr. Lee said at a news conference. South Korean companies “can’t help hesitating a lot” about making new investments in the U.S. if their workers are liable to end up in detention facilities.
Companies often bring in skilled workers to get factories up and running and to train local staff. “It’s not like these are long-term workers,” Mr. Lee continued. “When you build a facility or install equipment at a plant, you need technicians, but the U.S. doesn’t have that workforce and yet they won’t issue visas to let our people stay and do the work.”
That may be hard for Americans to hear, but it’s true. The U.S. doesn’t have the workforce to do these jobs. The Georgia battery plant is a multibillion investment by LG Energy Solution and Hyundai. South Korea’s tariff rate was modified to 15% in July in exchange for the country’s pledge of $350 billion in investment in the U.S. The U.S. currently caps both H-1B specialty worker and H-2B temporary worker visas.
The Trump Administration says some workers crossed the border illegally and others were working on expired visas. Whatever the case, raids like the one in Georgia are a deterrent to the foreign investment Donald Trump says he wants.
Hyundai Raid Will Delay Georgia Battery Plant Construction by Months
To wrap things up, please note the Hyundai Raid Will Delay Georgia Battery Plant Construction by Months
The U.S. government’s immigration raid on Hyundai Motor’s Georgia battery plant site will set back construction by two or three months, according to Chief Executive José Muñoz.
“All these people want to get back” home, Muñoz said Thursday on the sidelines of an automotive conference in Detroit. More than 300 Koreans were released early Thursday and departed midday from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.
But the expertise those employees and contract workers had can’t be easily replaced, Muñoz said. “You need to see how can you fill those positions? And then, for the most part, those people are not in the U.S.”
React First, then Think
Trump likes to react first, then think.
Strike that. Trump likes to react, then react to the reaction. There is little thought process to anything.
What a hoot that Trump begged these workers to stay after putting them in shackles.
Only one person stayed.
Good luck finding replacements. I hope none show up.
Related Posts
September 6, 2025: Trump’s Aluminum Tariffs Seriously Backfire Already
Tariffs did not and will not bring production back to the US.
September 10, 2025: How Much Money Have Trump’s Tariffs Raised? What’s the Impact?
Let’s discuss Trump’s tax hike on US consumers and businesses.
I lived in South Korea for 2 years. National pride runs deep there. They don’t easily forget these types of insults.
Trump voters: “What TF do we need Koreans for anyway?”
‘The whole thing is screwed up’: Farmers in deep-red Pennsylvania struggle to find workershttps://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/15/farm-labor-shortage-pennsylvania-trump-immigration-00560820
Something like 70% of these farmers voted for Trump… well done guys
The rectal cranioplasties cannot come soon enough
Very sad for this country and the great state Georgia
The actions of Trump against countries that are US allies, shows he’s absolutely unhinged and that the sycophants around him that form his cabinet are also. He has no intention of making America great again, he just wants to create a dictatorship that rivals that of the former Soviet Union.
I wouldn’t travel to the US now, I’d be worried there was something wrong with the ESTA.
You’ve done a good job again, Mish, with this blogpost of enticing your ‘audience’ back again and again – for some ‘analysis’.
I look back at the last week of your posts. Purely economic analysis blogs – little commenting interest:
Home lot prices – 2 dozen comments total
QCEW data update – 3 dozen comments total
But unleash the divisional and political POV news updates and watch out!:
Value of college education – 14 dozen comments
(South Korean) immigration – 15 dozen comments already within 24 hours of posting
With your analytical focus, I’m sure you analyze your own stats. And you know how to reel them in when they quit paying attention to what you’re writing yourself.
So personally, I appreciate your actual economic analysis. But obviously, the rest of your non-expert audience likes to tune in to ‘explain’ to others why they are right and others are not (hubris?). But regardless, congrats on keeping your blogsite and blogposts full
Without pitting posters against each other, without extracting hate, nasty comments, superiority complex, praising bloodshed, and a few counter hate commentators ==> isolated in the mountains, he will never learn anything. It’s so much fun.
Right! Because you never say anything that you actually stand behind or believe.
he knows what works. 😎
Families in crisis after massive immigration raid at Hyundai plant in Georgia
https://apnews.com/article/georgia-immigration-raid-hyundai-families-bf4a28e96645316d759de50d09928594
Correct! That’s what happens when you break federal immigration law & then get caught. Your family suffers, but let’s try not to blame the men & women of ICE for doing their Constitutional duty. Let’s make it seem like America is going to fall apart, one illegal immigrant family at a time.
Boohoo.
Those tv show raids on illegal immigrants boost “Law and Order”, but hardly dents the labor force. When the boomers and gen X front end expire, or immigrate, the participation rate might rise to 68% or 70%. Bringing back industries is a systemic change. If Trump sacks the healthcare and the food industry American will be healthier, less depressed and more productive.
Christian values…
“The nearer the end of empire, the more polarised the people are.”
People in developed countries are frustrated with their living standard lowering compared to emerging countries.
We can see what is happening in Europe.
People target the immigrants where the least resistance is.
We will see more destructive polarisation in the near future.
I should have limited myself to the government, not all American people
Qatar is a Muslim Bros state. A few years ago it was boycott by all Arab nations. Without the US Qatar is gone. They are angry with Trump who knew about the attack. Kia/ Hyundai is #3 behind GM and Ford. If they will not build it here they will be #10. Trump compromise saved them.
Korea will reunite with China so they can never be bullied by the Barbaric West ever again.
That is where the growth is ~ and predictable governance. Trump can not keep a promise for ten minutes.
The orange TACO is harming our credibility and status as a trustworthy nation.
History has shown us time and time again that tariffs and trade wars lead to economic calamity. Often hot wars! No one can have any confidence in what TACO will do.
Re-unite?
Different race, different language, different history, different culture, different civilization.
What on earth are you talking about? Might they reunite with Russia or Germany?
Korea was “united” before with China and then with Japan and then with China again and back “united” with Japan and then after WW II they didn’t want to be “united” with any of their neighbors. Maybe they like not being “united” with China nor Japan.
Something tells me the SK’s aren’t going to invite the CCP to setup shop in parliament.
Yes. “united”
Same thing happened at Foxconn in WI – they brought in staff from China to set up their factory in a cost-effective manner.
Foxconn never opened in WI. The buildings were built, major multilane roads were constructed, and a square mile of prime farmland was desecrated for the buildings to sit empty and slowly disintegrate. I drove by it many times – an incredibly sad outcome following HUGE hype. Weeds are moving in where tractors used to roll.
https://www.foxconnwiofficial.com/foxconn-in-wisconsin#:~:text=Foxconn's%20296%2C000%20square%2Dfoot%20Smart,infrastructure%20in%20the%20United%20States.
TACO’s for Sunday breakfast
Trump has ambassador apologize to Korea
TACOs for breakfast…
A top U.S. diplomat expressed regret on Sunday over an immigration raid in the state of Georgia that detained hundreds of South Korean workers and proposed making the event a turning point to strengthen bilateral relations, South Korea said.
Mish says South Koreans don’t have to follow immigration laws nor do they need the correct visas.
film at eleven.
South Korea can join the list of nations that Trump has betrayed.
Canada
Greenland
China
India
Mexico
Japan
Brazil
Australia
The entire EU
Ukraine
Etc
Etc
But Russia gets the Red Carpet ~ and ~ Putin spits in Trumps face.
So what does Trump do? Invades a US city with the National Guard.
He is a malicious idiot ~ but what should we expect from a pedophile that bankrupted a casino?
Who does Trump work for?
>>>
Trump works for Israel. Same as most of Congress only more so.
You beat me to it.
ISRAEL
And the oil lobby… The Russian oil lobby? They are completely disregarding the sanctions at this point and going around our banking system.
US producers are barely making a profit and pipe casing steel has a massive tariff on it that drives up their costs causing them to stop drilling plans and reduce Cap Ex by $500 million so far in 2025. Next year will be worse and if there is any kind of oil shock? US capacity will be hard pressed to catch up.
Why is Trump failing to fill the SPR when prices are low?
23,000 oil workers laid off in the US already as Rig counts fall 16 out of 18 weeks in a row.
Meanwhile our former ally Canada is drilling like crazy and building pipelines to the coast for exporting crude and LNG to the rest of the world.
It seems that everything Trump does hurts the US and its competitiveness in global trade…
Sigh!
Why fill the SPR when we pump enough oil to export a lot of it? The SPR was set up when we had a large production deficit and now we have a surplus.
The United States doesn’t produce a lot of what we traditionally consider to be oil. We produce a lot of nafta, a super-light version of oil. You actually have to mix it with a lot of heavy oil in order to produce gas and diesel. So we produce and export a lot of nafta, and import a lot of heavier grades from Canada and Mexico.
We absolute do not.
We use 19 million barrels a day
We produce 13 million barrels a day.
Because just like Biden, Trump is only interested in making the economy look good in the immediate short term at the expense of the future of the America. Both Presidents abused our Strategic Petroleum Reserves just to be able to brag about low gas prices at the pump.
İn the process, they made it next to impossible for the American oil industry to continue pumping oil at viable prices. Shale oil producers are losing money at these artificially low oil prices. Rig count is down.
As a result, the Texas real estate market is imploding.
Our government is made up of traitors, both Democrat and Republican.
They all belong in jail for treason instead of strutting their stuff like LGBTQ peacocks in Congress or the White House I dare say. The Treasury Secretary is one of those himself, isn’t he (sorry pronoun)?
If Aipac and Israel rules the US why do they have to pay 15% tariffs on exporting goods to the US, more than any country, ex China. The Arab nations and the Europeans condemned Israel, but they imported from Israel in 2024 more than ever. Their open orders is higher than ever. That’s why Macron is so pissed off. Many Hamas leaders asked Israel’s permission to leave Jasa with their families, but the IDF told them to stay put and move south to the tent city. Sentiment beat u bc u are slow witted.
Because you don’t export shit to America. You get billions of free shit from us Americans including F-35s and Patriot missiles and plenty of ass-licking from our traitorous politicians.
Macron is your puppet also. It’s just that a quarter of French residents are Muslims so he has to pretend that he’s kind of critical of jews.
High tech weapon’s, NVDA, MSFT, INTC, IBM…shit in your Tucker face. The 15% are either ROI, or make these shit here, in the US, to keep America safe for idiots like u.
NVIDIA is jewish? 😀
Yes, I’ve always thought that he works for his son-in-law.
LVMH, Carrefour and Accor have also been caught trying the same thing. The US government back in 2023 decided to up auditing on all foreign firms because many of them have been abusing the laws in that area. Funny, when they got busted I never saw any French people saying France has been betrayed in French media and certainly no diplomatic protests but French companies produce much more within the US than South Korean companies do and know the rules better. They also know which side of the bread is buttered.
morons in amerika ordering freedom fries and boycotting french companies that employ them is my all time favorite reaction to the battle of 9.11.01. long live pax dumbfuckistan. it’s entertaining as all fuck.
What I find entertaining is Russia turning itself into China’s bitch thinking that will keep them from losing Siberia.
This post was way too long.
Trump is an arrogant moron would have sufficed.
South Korea allows little immigration , particularly not workers. Somewhat hypocritical. The Age of Immigration is over.
humans emigrating and immigrating and moving around the planet ain’t ever gonna cease. try reading some anthropology. i’d suggest graeber, “dawn of everything”
Try reading China and Eastt Asian nation’s policies on immigration . Very restrictive.
South Korea has not just asked for hundreds of billions in investment. Minor detail.
how can South Korean companies investing in the U.S. continue to invest properly in the future?
By hring Americans.
The problem is, as the article repeatedly points out, Americans don’t have the skills. So all you’re saying is “don’t invest in America”.
Says the Hyundai spox.
SpaceX and others don’t have a problem finding people. If you don’t look you will not find.
Note that SpaceX facilities in Florda and Texas are right next NASA facilities. There’s a reason for that.
So how do we get these skills? I submit that many semi-skilled and skilled trades work can be taught in 6mo to 2-year programs. Engineering and other higher-level disciplines could be taught in less than 4 years? How do we as a country incentivize young folks to learn the trades and pursue higher level disciplines in STEM? Are these things happening now? I don’t hear about it in the media.
My company generally hires “Controls & Automation” apprentices who’ve completed a 2-year training program or have relevant training through military experience. These programs are hands on 6-8 hours per day plus homework. Most are working night jobs and relying on their folks for help.
As a taxpayer I’d lean into the idea of government subsidized regional craft training centers. Heck, that’s what the Navy does for example. I’d also consider subsidizing low or no interest student loans for folks pursuing STEM degrees.
I’d like to see a very public, bipartisan national campaign. Maybe have Mike Rowe as spokesman on the craft side.
I’m not sure when the original Hyundai deal was inked, but as a young man in the south I would have jumped at the chance to enter a training program with high likelihood of employment and healthcare benefits at the Georgia plant.
I’d also suggest allowing STEM students to skip the 2+ years of worthless liberal arts classes allowing them to graduate early. Basics like english, history, civics, sure, but all the indoctrination classes should ALL be electives not needed for a STEM degree.
Admittedly I’m out of touch with undergraduate requirements these days. I do remember in the mid ’80s an EE degree left little room for say Humanities classes. Physics, Chemistry, Calculus crowded some of that out. I agree with you in principle. Additionally, why take the summer off? Incentivize working through. That’s 9 months lost in a 4-year program (unless you land an intern job). Streamline as you suggest and work through the summer. Shave a year off a 4-year degree.
I have two coworkers who have kids going into enlisted military. One daughter into Air Force and one son into Navy. Luckily, they’re bright, driven kids who got into good programs. By contrast Washington State University is $36,804 all in for 2025. Considering a 3-4% annual increase, that’s a substantial chunk of change.
Twenty-year veterans in tech and engineering-related fields can write their own ticket when they get out.
I agree. I ended up doing almost seven years in USN. That training and experience allowed me to find technical work on the outside, marry, raise a family, put kids through secondary education, and generally prosper.
Thank you for your service!
Which century was that in?
Enlisting is the dumbest thing that they could have done.
Please elaborate.
QED
All you said should and can be done.
Anti immigrant forces are rising in the UK, France and Germany. Victor Orban is
laughing at them. Trump stopped the invasion brigades. The dems support them.
The radical left is nasty and violent. Hyundai incentivized them. Centrifugal forces
are rising in Europe and the US. Qatar, Turkey and Egypt infiltrated the US decades a go, spilling poison. Qatar is a mice that roared with their money and Al Jazeera. After
dismantling the evil axis Shi introduced new ballistic missiles on their launching pads.
Iran Pezeshkian and Kim Jong Un were impressed. Modi didn’t care. Last week the IDF launched a few ballistic missiles on the way to Qatar. They can be launched from anywhere. No launching pads. Arrow 7 can intercept Putin’s dribbling hypersonic missiles. We will make them here to avoid 15% tariffs on the zionist state. Erdogan put a threat. Al Sisi: it’s a war if Mossad kill them here in Egypt. Turkey will be slaughtered in Syria. Egypt in the Sinai desert. Jordan in the Jordan valley. All they
can do is to condemn and declare a fake Palestinian state, to please pro Islamic protesters.
A few F-15 and F-35 traveled south, half way to Yemen and launched ballistic missiles to space, on the way to Qatar. Hamas leaders escaped but Qatar was spanked. Qatar, Turkey and Egypt might force these third rank leaders, or new new ones to return the 50 hostages – forty of them are dead – in order to spare Jasa most expensive neighborhood Rimal. Most high rise buildings 15 fl and up are down. Next: 8-12 floors. If they will be late nothing will be left.
If Israel could stop Iran’s missiles, they wouldn’t have to censor all images of the damage they’d done. Russia’s missiles are vastly more capable than what Iran has. Thankfully for Israel, Russia will not attack Israel nor give Iran its best offensive weapons because a huge percentage of Israelis are of Russian origin and in some cases Russian citizens. Russia treats them respectfully even though most don’t return the favor.
Over 90% of Iranian missiles were intercepted. Iran had about 3,000 ballistic missiles, but Israel destroyed their launching pad. Without them they are useless. Israel launched ballistic missiles launched from F-15 and F-35. The Golden Dome might protect DC, Alaska CA and FL with planes carrying anti missile missiles or air born lasers. There are over a million Russian and Ukrainian ex pat in Israel. Many are great scientists and engineers. They gave a huge boost to Israel and the US, especially to Bklyn.
Russia can’t attack anybody else but Ukraine and they are getting to far there either.
The radical left deleted my comments.
… and ate your homework, and caused you to stub your toe.
Try some accountability. It’s incompatible with your ideology.
Puta puta how was business last night.
reminds me of the morons in SC, after 9.11.01 when freedumb fries was in the air. they wanted to boycott the french. the dumbfuck rednecks had no clue michelin was a major employer in the palmetto state. regardless, charleston SC was a lovely little village to live for a decade. the local morons of SC were added hilarity. like a free live performance show of idiocracy.
Ahh Charalston… where fast food takes 20 minutes.
bmc^2 is above the morons of borough park, Arizona and sc.
Dunno why this is downvoted as it’s entirely true. It’s not rednecks though, the rednecks in the upstate all work for them, it’s the city suburban coastal conservative ghouls.
working hard at turning the u.s. into a wasteland ehh trump?
This incident is typical for the incoherence of US policy making. On the hand, the US, or at least Trump, wants billions and billions of foreign investments, which almost invariably require lots of foreign workers to be brought in as well to get things going and train American workers. On the other hand, the US visa system doesn’t allow to bring in foreign workers on the scale and durations needed. Other countries have long ago figured out this problem, and they provide special visas that are tailored to FDI, while we keep relying on an antiquated B-1 and short-term visitor system whose only purpose is to boost ICE (and not FDI) employment.
trump understands zero about businesses its why he went bankrupt so often. he only is a hater of what he deems are illegal immigrants not what is reality. he needs removed along with his disastrous administration.
Politics always comes first over nation to populist Republicans. They could easily pass laws that permit just this kind of foreign work. It’s not actually immigration. But then their dimwit supporters would come to understand that democracy can work to the benefit of the nation. But then that notion is too complicated for their average voters. So you have to keep it dumb and simple: foreigners, especially with darker skin or epicanthic folds, are a threat to real American jobs and must be hurt.
The sooner the entire world wakes up to the unilateral, America is King politicking under whatever regime in place, but taken to a new level of absurdity with the Zion Don, the better. Walk away, South Korea. You are entwined and teamed up with a political praying mantis.
I feel betrayed too. If a foreign company agrees to build a factory in the US getting very substantial subsidies from the local government like Hyundai did and then turns around and does all to not hire Americans nor train them to work in their factory except for low-level jobs I certainly would call that a betrayal. Hyundai received a total of $2 billion from local and state governments to build the plant there so their feelings of betrayal sound somewhat self-serving and dishonest. If you believe in almost free immigration like some people here then of course you would feel outraged. If you don’t believe that then showing Hyundai that they have to follow immigration law is acceptable and normal.
Interestingly the articles were unclear if laws were broken and to what degree. We know there was a raid and we know that ice does not follow legal procedures and they take in anyone, legal resident or not. I’m not saying no law was broken but right now that is unclear. Rights certainly were denied, as per the articles.
The second question then is if the response was proportionate. Shackling people? Really? That are there to build the factory to bring back those coveted jobs? Many of whom, at worst, likely have a wrong visa, but a work visa nonetheless? That could not be handled differently?
when you empower thugs you get ICE.
They likely rounded up anyone who looked foreign with the intent to verify every visa individually.
So yeah they grabbed plenty of legal workers in addition to the illegal ones.
Was it nice? No. Was it effective? Yes.
how do you know they didn’t hire any americans? are you as dense as trump.
Do your research and you will find.
Is this a parody account?
Labor in Korea is cheaper, the subsidies offset this to make building in the US competitive. Kiss that goodbye though, at some point companies will just accept tariffs rather than put up with BS that might change tomorrow depending on Trump’s mood in the morning
Trump may have given Hyundai the excuse they need to pull the plug on US investment and simply shutter the plant
When Hyundai decided to build that plant we had a far more stable and free trade oriented government. Now we have the totally unreliable and random TACO at the helm and the tariffs on Graphite, Aluminum, copper and steel used in batteries and autos make them cost far too much.
South Korea can now go about building its trade relationships with its neighbors.
Besides, Solid State batteries are right around the corner and they will change the EV scene positively for the foreseeable future.
They can go build it in North Korea.
EV is unstable and expensive no one is buying.
Solid state batteries are being built now and Hyundais technology is obsolete. EV’s are part of how the world is going to pass the US as trump clings to the past.
So you’re saying a super, brand new technology is going to be priced lower than the existing technology?
I seriously doubt that. At least for a while. SSBs won’t drive down the cost of EVs for at least 2 years after their commercial introduction here in the USA.
EVs will remain very expensive for a while longer. Hell, Dodge just dropped their EV truck do to non-existent demand & high cost.
They won’t shutter the plant or pull up stakes in the USA. 21% of their business is here and pulling up stakes would certainly cause Trump to put them out of business via tariffs or close enough to out of business for 4 years. By then the damage would be done.
All that’s going to happen is they are going to get their workers the proper visas. Not even sure why that’s such a big deal to do.
The Independent, and the WSJ.
Whatever.
Hyundai tried to skirt the law and got busted. Proper prior planning prevents poor performance, and they failed.
I don’t recall it ever being a normal business practice, outside possibly communist China, for any other nations to work a project by just sending over whoever, to do whatever, without any proper visa planning?
You certainly can’t do a project that way in Europe, China, Japan, or South Korea.
It’s not an investment if they don’t recruit and train local workforce to run said investment … when you only use your own people to do something, that’s not a partnership it’s a colonial operation.
It is a big world and the US auto market is not growing. Particularly the EV market with Trump blocking EV grid development.
With this action against the legitimate employees of Hyundai’s battery factory, Trump is continuing to devastate our standing in the global community. China, India, virtually all of Asia and the explosively growing nation of Brazil are now trading with each other at quickly expanding rates as they have been driven together by Trumps random acts of over-reach.
Trump rolled out the Red Carpet for Putin and Putin laughed in his face (made a fool of Trump). The whole world knows that Trump is nothing but a paper tiger and Putin is shipping oil all over the world now that Trump is in office. Trumps failure to support our allies in Europe has them ignoring the sanctions and joining China and India in importing Russian oil.
Hyundai can halt the build out of the factory at this point and re-purpose it or sell it. The tariffs on the graphite and other input materials for this technology of battery will now make production unprofitable.
It is not just the tariffs on the materials, and high labor cost that is making EV’s less desirable in the US. Grid build out and alternative energy projects are being halted as Trump pays homage to the oil industry. Putin, the Saudis and now Iran benefit greatly while the US oil patch struggles to make a profit in this low $60’s oil environment.
When you are getting 747’s from Qatar and other massive personal benefits, why should Trump care about those that lose their jobs, get deported or those that never get hired. Trump can always distract the headlines by sending the military to another US city under the guise of stopping crime.
“It’s going to get worse before it gets better” has been a Trump sycophant mantra. But his breaking relationships built on years of trust and mutual aid causes damage that can not be repaired in many cases.
Who does Trump work for?
???
Russia has been selling oil all over the world well before Trump returned to office. They will continue to do so no matter who the US president is. Russia, China, India and Brazil have been cooperating with each other because they’re tired of being bossed around by a country with 4% of the world’s population with delusions of grandeur. If you find yourself thinking like Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton, you might want to reassess.
Who does Trump work for?
The American citizenry?
Well, if he knew you, he probably would exclude you.
Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.
I play beer league hockey with a friend who lives in a gated community with an HOA.
A few months ago the HOA board (US Presidency) got some new Karens on it (Trump). My friend parked his work truck in his drive way one night a week (not legal) because the next day he needed to leave extra early and didn’t want to go out of his way to go pick up the truck. He’d never had an issue before the new Karens got on the HOA (prior administrations). So one day he comes home to a fine notice (Illegal workers detained) with no prior warnings.
In the dressing room (media) as he tells this story he is LIVID about this after never having it happen before and no warning. He says he and his wife are so angry that the neighborhood (Country) is going the wrong direction and that they are thinking about moving (relocating Car business to another country) to another community. We tell him that it’s going to cost WAY more to move in terms of moving expenses, real estate transactions, taxes etc than the cost of one annoying fine that was correct by the letter of the law. A few months on, we ask him how the move is coming and whether they’ve looked at homes elsewhere (countries elsewhere to relocate business). He admits to us that after he and his wife talked it over and figured out the full cost of moving (relocating business) that it wasn’t worth it by a long shot since they did like the neighborhood (Country) prior to the Karens (new President) taking over the HOA (presidency). Instead my friend’s wife ran for the HOA and organized a bunch of other annoyed residents to do the same and they kicked out the Karens to take back their gated community (Country).
I added in brackets the analogy for anyone who doesn’t get it. What’s going to happen is some outrage in the media over these detainments just as my friend was outraged over a silly fine over his work truck parked once a week at his house. But ultimately NOTHING will relocate because it costs too much and makes no business sense whatsoever.
One last thing. The only reason South Korea exists is because the US military keeps the North Koreans at bay. If there is even the slightly hint of investment changing, Trump just has to hint about pulling the US out of South Korea. The South Koreans clearly know this.
So in your example, the solution is to hold elections and remove the party from office to restore sanity to the market place.
🙂
or alternatively have an exit strategy if it’s in your best interest for the long term.
Well it’s only 14 months till midterms. So yeah, if people aren’t happy with how things are going they’ll be voting on it in 14 months.
1. Your friend’s first mistake was living in an HOA to begin with. They’re for people who think they don’t have enough government in their life. They don’t protect property values to the degree people think they do. I live in a neighborhood without an HOA. I don’t need an HOA to prevent my next-door neighbor from decorating their front yard with a broken-down, rusted-out car that has a tree growing up through the engine compartment. The city has rules for that. My neighbor across the street (landscaper( parks his newer work truck in his driveway. IDGAF It is at least 10 years newer and looks nicer than my 2005 truck. The neighbor next to him is a self-employed plumber and parks his truck in his driveway. Nobody GAF. In fact we are happy to have a neighbor who is a plumber for when we have plumbing problems or need a new water heater.
2. Your friend’s 2nd mistake will be either not moving or not using his wife’s time on the board to set up a vote by HOA members to dissolve the HOA.
3. I was on an HOA board once for a similar reason as your friend’s wife. They are money troughs for property management companies that “manage” the monthly “services,” law firms, landscaping companies, insurance companies (get ready to pay extra if your common areas have water run off ponds), etc. The cities love them because they collect your taxes and don’t have to manage the public areas. You’re doing it for them.
In some areas, it’s hard to avoid HOA’s.
I went out of my way. REAL FAR out of my way. But it would be too hard for most.
Yes, they are a fact of life, for many.
Especially in States like Florida where 3/4s of communities or more are HOA’s. You pretty much have to live rural to avoid them.
I never paid an HOA for decades as a homeowner.
Not enough red flags for the Trumpers. Their love is loyal, and they will march off the cliff to their own demise, claiming all thew way to the bottom that the all expense paid trip down was beautiful.
Fooled you twice. Shame on you.
– Trump is an idiot. > If Trump is an idiot (in your mind), then I hope to be an idiot someday. He is a highly intelligent, no nonsense businessman. He has been self made for decades. He has been highly successful as an individual, a family man, a religious Man, and is very savvy as a Politician. He is admired all around the world. Sure He has his naysayers out there, but don’t they/we all? I would be proud to have had the accomplishments this Man has had. What an over achiever, if ever there was one.
– Almost everyone he has appointed is an idiot. > Hmm… not even close. Kennedy is a Brilliant Person for Health Changes in our food. We have allowed the idiots in charge to destroy our foods health, by ingredients meant for “Profit” and “Not” Health! I believe with all my convictions that Vance (VP) “Will Be” Our Next President! No doubt whatsoever!! I could go on with pick after pick, but their job performance is proving such each and every day. He has put together an amazing Cabinet! You may not like him, but don’t be distorted by your venom…
– I voted for him in 2016 and 2024. > So You we’re a very smart Man at one point!
– I was appalled by his first term and voted for kanye in the general. > Trump had arguably, one of Best First Terms of any President. When you toss in the constant bullying by the MSM, and the Road Vlocks the Democrats placed in front of Him, it was far more Amazing!!
– There were no other viable choices. > Unfortunately there septillion isn’t, and Trump can’t run again, but luckily We Have Vance to step in, flawlessly I might add, based upon His performance to date! He should be a landslide Winner just like Trump IMO!
– I always knew he was an Epstein compromised, > Nothing to do with Him or many Republicans. This was a Democrat wet dream, and they fawned themselves all over it, and then after the fact, and once caught, tried to blame the sitting President of whom they despise, but to no avail, as Trump was no part, played no part and had absolutely nothing to do with any of it, and it’s all extremely well documented.
So you’re an idiot that votes for and protects pedophiles.
You must be so proud.
I have and will never vote for such. I am not sure about You, because you didn’t state that you weren’t, but I will assume not so much by your tone…
Trump is a pedo. Right! Still waiting on the proof.
Let’s see. There’s been 12 years of democratic WH rule since it was widely known in DC what Epstein was up to and since Trump parted ways with Epstein.
STILL NO PROOF!
Just because your entire persona is built around calling Trump a pedo doesn’t make it true. You really have a massive brain lock for accepting Biden would have outed Trump, if the Epstein files had the goods on him.
Damn, man, how hardheaded, anti-truth can you be?
Oh, looks like the trump media team just joined. Welcome fellows, please keep lying in the most obvious way. It makes it easier to detect.
> There were no other viable choices.
D and R are never viable choices. Do you understand yet? The oligarchs that own the D, R, and media sold you the idea that voting for anyone else is wasting your vote. The truth is the opposite.
No viable choices for unviable D & R? Have you ever given serious thought to this question rather than settling for such a vacuous trope?
Got Popcorn?
Got puts?
What a show!
Go read your talmud
Typical taco with his child-like methods and less than positive outcome. His naracism will prevent him from ever changing.
Trump is like petulant child who constantly makes mountains out of molehills and then destroys everything in the process. The disasters are only beginning.
This statement works for any country really, including the US:
”The way that Trump is pressuring the
Koreangovernment and inflicting damages on its people is very rough and unilateral.”You can’t fix stupid…
or f***ing morons.
What is mindblowing about the Trump immigration raids is how inept they are. Given the technology and endless money that Congress has appropriated it makes no sense., It is really easy to find the people who are not here legally. Using an e-verify system they could have checked each employee and figured out which ones they needed to speak with.But no it is all show with lots masks, tons of cars, sirens and then all to detention, At the rate this is going no one is going to want to come near this county.
Maybe we could test the e-verify system on Trump’s properties.
trump is the proverbial bull in a china closet. What he doesn’t break he ……….
…craps on?
“A bull-shiiter in a China shop!”
From what I read, some temp agencies were started in the US by koreans and would hire only koreans. Some manual labor, low skilled temp workers entered the US illegally through Mexico. Now I would expect an engineer to have all his paperwork in order, so there has to be more to the story than is being reported.
I do know Asian countries have a lot of “face” and value their reputation. Even if ICE were 100% accurate apprehending and deporting those workers, it needed to be kept off front page news until a conversation with Korea took place.
You think Asian countries “have a lot of face”. Imagine the reaction is hundreds on US workers were detained and shackled like this in Korea or for that matter Europe.
US media and the government would go nuts about this mistreatment of its citizens.
The US seems to be the only developed countries that liberally uses handcuffs and shackles. In most developed countries such activities are restricted for serious and violent criminals.
If it happened in China it would be cause for a “Human Rights” investigation and universal press condemnation by western media.
Just another Fu*k up in a day of the orange Taco…
You won’t find “hundreds of U.S. workers” on any project like this anywhere in the world. Because other nations don’t allow foreigners to come in like that. The Hyundai folks were abusing their privileges.
1) Americans work all over europe at least, so that’s nonsense. 2) doing such a raid to workers that are there to complete the investment youve asked for is extra stupid and 3) these ice raids detail anyone, unchecked since there is no due process. We knew this before and it is apparent from this story again. It is at least as likely that some, most or all of the detainees were there perfecty legal, as it is that some were doing work outside their visa.
This is such a stupid raid but noone is surprises because all trump cares about is image and his lackeys know that and act accordingly.
If I go to Europe to work I have to have a proper visa to be there and to stay for any length of time. This sort of system has existed for over 50 years. Hyundai broke the U.S. rules in that regard. It is likely that nearly all of their workers were on inappropriate visas. You can infer this because “we followed all U.S. laws and our workers were all on the correct visas” is NOT being used as Hyundai’s defense.
Agree with your point about “face”. Am tired of hearing from my cracker brethren that Asians care about appearances. As though the posturing blowhard they voted for isn’t all about “face”.
The Koreans have been warned repeatedly that stuff like this was coming. They chose to ignore the obvious clues.
Now the Trump administration has sent them and other foreign companies like them a powerful signal. Those practices will no longer be tolerated.
LOL – like they’re gonna come here & find out.
Flavia, they will know they have to obey the law before they come. This is a good way to get them to notice but of course if you are for these types of practices then evidently you would not like the Administration ending them. Are you for them or not Flavia?
What law? This is about a moronic agency that busted up a business that would have benefited a local economy in Georgia.
And in the most obnoxious way possible.
WTF? Dude, the Hyundia plant will get complete and probably under budget & ontime.
Lol! Dumb f*ck!
Eloquent as always PapaDave. You must have learned that at the Yale debating team.
The car / battery plant isn’t the only place Hyundai is making investments that benefit the US.
Sept. 5, 2025.
The Philippines inaugurated HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Philippines’ new shipyard in Subic Bay with the backing of South Korean and U.S. economic investments.
https://news.usni.org/2025/09/05/subic-bay-shipyard-re-opens-after-u-s-south-korean-investments
Yes, a naval base in the Philippines, how about that. With the help of Hyundai and Korea. Vital for any future conflict related to Chinese imperialism. Btw, the US Navy has no way to reload vertical launch missile magazines at sea. That means when a destroyer empties the magazine they have to find a port somewhere and reload at a dock. The Navy has experimented with at-sea reloading from a cargo ship but that was in smooth water and no war. So, hey, who needs Subic Bay.
Brilliant move by Trump, Noem, ICE and the rest of the morons on Team Trump.
Perhaps not for long. The majority of global growth is in Asia. Trump is turning the US into another failed British Colony.
Who does Trump work for?
“The last act of any official government is to loot the treasury.”
– George Washington, supposedly
What’s Donnie’s cronnies buying?
If Hyundai is using only Korean workers, and keeping all the profits, it might be on U.S. soil but it’s not an “investment that benefits the U.S.”
No navy including the Chinese one has a reliable way to reload missiles at sea but there are some interesting techniques being tested so maybe Subic Bay won’t be needed after all.
He also said, yesterday, Europe should solve its own problems when asked about the Russian drones in Poland. Today the acting UN Ambassador, a career diplomat, attempted to patch the damage from that by saying we’ll support Nato member Poland in protecting itself. Trump was busy on the new ballroom so of course he has little time for other issues. But he does react first and then someone else tries to do the thinking.
I predict the acting UN Ambassador will be gone soon in favor of “Signal Chat Waltz” who will follow Putin’s instructions about abandoning Nato, Poland and Europe.
If you were to plant an agent to do as much damage to the US as possible you couldn’t do better than Trump.
it’s obvious Trump will not support the US getting involved through NATO in a war against Russia.
Is it?
Russian drones without warheads with a 700 km range 1100 km away from Russia? Evil Putin!
sorry but you continue to present one side of any event. just maybe there was an agreement that defined a commitment to high US employments. you are better than the typical liberal oublication
> But the expertise those employees and contract workers had can’t be easily replaced, Muñoz said. “You need to see how can you fill those positions? And then, for the most part, those people are not in the U.S.”
Liberal means being able to read the squiggly lines on the screen? I think Fox might be more your speed Larry. Actually, even that might be too much, maybe try OAN or 4chan.
I think as noted many of these people had temporary visas for the building and start-up with US workers coming on as the plant got on line. Makes sense SK wants their people to get it up and running and oversee the building.
Mind you, these workers had visas (unless the Korean government is lying lol). These were LEGAL workers.
From insider sources, there are a lot of other automakers in the south (Volvo, BMW, and Toyota to name a few) watching this and getting ready to move their operations to Mexico or elsewhere. One of those companies (not going to name names) just moved production of an entire line of their cars to Mexico last year in about 8 months after costs became too high. Said company is the entire local economy in the area, and the move cost ~150 jobs or so.
If the GOP doesn’t step up, they’re going to find their states are completely empty in a speed run of the rust belt collapse. These plants feed and employ entire metropolitan areas in some cases (looking at Greenville here) because it’s not just the jobs from the plants proper, but the jobs from the surrounding satellites. Georgia just lost ~17k jobs, who’s next?
We’ll repurpose those vacant plants for military drone manufacturing. Things are really starting to heat up. After Poland downed several Russian drones in Polish airspace, Putin then violated Romanian airspace today. Putin is not deterred.
UKR publishes figures on drone intercepts. They usually claim about 80%+ success. 60% of those by physical intercepts and 40% by EM.
An EM intercept could mean they fall to ground abruptly or it could be that it’s guidance is disabled and flies until it runs out of fuel.
So ‘RUS incursion into UKR’ is better described as successful intercept of drones by UKR.
All the NATO mob understand the reality, but RUS incursion is a better story.
You realize the obvious thing is that if the work remains in Mexico those vehicles will suddenly be subject to huge tariffs. I suspect Trump will hit them with extra if they don’t come back.
ALL, repeat ALL those companies need the American market. Without it, they aren’t profitable enough and their entire investment is basically wasted (tens to hundreds of billions) and some might not survive.
My guess is they whine a bit, clean up their visas and then get back to the business of making cars in America because that’s good for them.
Do they? No, actually. No they don’t. We’re in a giant recession Timmy, we have 25 countries refusing to ship post to us. We don’t get to make those demands anymore. Your economy is dying. This baby boomer bullshit? It’s killing this country along with the generation nobody will miss.
Kia sells more vehicles in the USA (21% of all Kias sold) than they do in Korea itself (19% of all Kias sold)
So yeah Kia absolutely needs the USA market unless they’d like to be 20% smaller (you know any businesses who’d like to be 20% smaller?). Moreover I’d imagine 90% of their SUV market is North America since Korea/Europe etc doesn’t buy those big SUV’s. So say good bye to that entire segment of vehicles if they don’t make them here.
Holy crap. Were you an extra in Idiocracy? Nobody needs deadbeat customers crying how everyone must be desperate to serve them.
If they won’t earn a profit selling to USA, they’ll shut down. Congratulations.
I had no idea the USA was a deadbeat in terms of paying bills. That’s news to me and most of the rest of the world really considering how they lap up US debt.
If they decide they don’t want to play by the rules here and want to leave, let them. Plenty of car companies will happily step in and take their sales.
You’re correct – the companies do need the huge American market.
A company like Hyundai just needs to make some temporary adjustments for the next couple yrs.
Wow, you’re way off. Not even in Mist’s biased sources is anyone claiming that the Koreans in question were on proper visas. Yes, they got into the country on a business visa, but that isn’t the correct visa for the jobs they were doing. And they were overstaying their visas.
Much like the illegal immigration across the southern border, if this sort of thing had been conducted within the existing immigration law, by a non-corrupt government, none of the immigration abuses would have occurred and there’d have been no need for an ICE cleanup.
Let me spell this out for you as someone from this industry really slowly so you can understand. Build big new plant, big new plant have BIG machine in plant. American no understand big machine so Korean have to teach him! No Korean mean plant go boom boom money bye bye!
Is that simple enough for you guys to process?
ha ha ha. i think i understand now. my hometown of phoenix for a decade needed tons of taiwan natives to set up TSM plant. not enough locals with expertise in chip manufacturing.
Horse feathers. Historically the usual industry practice is for the original experts to train the new guys. In time of trouble the Original expert can visit and provide advice but the new guys as part of their training perform the actual operations so that they learn.
Hyundai was doing none of that and they were using the original guys for construction and setup which was outside their visa scope. If they did want to use their guys in that fashion there are other visas they should have arranged
“the usual industry practice is for the original experts to train the new guys.”
dude the original experts are Koreans.. you mo*on
We need someone to train us, pay more than what they get paid for similar work and tolerate our tantrums on-top of that.
Maybe we are not exceptional afterall and would take years to build expertise if mo*on MAGA allows it…. clowns
I’ve never seen anyone successfully make my point while arguing against it before like he just did lol
You so utterly missed my point.
Yes, the Koreans would be showing the Americans what to do.
That doesn’t mean the Koreans should be here for months past their visa expiration dates, doing work outside the scope of their visas… the work which the Americans should be doing as the trainees.
Hyundai should have arranged the correct Visas. If the law made that difficult, there are legal ways to fix the law.
P.S. If you had a viable argument, you wouldn’t need to call other people names.
between this and cracking down on wind, solar and electirc vehicles projects (many of which are in red states) red states will become even worse welfare states than they are.
the latest hoot is US farmers begging Trump to do (another) farmer bailout because his policies are (again) killing them.
They’re not workers; they’re employees, like engineers & specialists & managers & trainers.
This doesn’t make sense. Were they legally here or not? That will determine if they were misidentified and supposed to be here or they shouldn’t have been here in the first place.
By the sounds of things they all legally entered the country. Many had work visas.
Maybe many weren’t behaving in strict accordance with their work visas. In which case that is legal cause for action.
However the action is over the top. And the results are evident. Why would you want stay in a country that treats you like this? Most probably would have far preferred to be back in their home country. But they were doing a job because it was needed.
This was a idiotic mistake by the authorities. Even if everything was legally done.
Treat people with respect. If you don’t then don’t be surprised if they don’t want to deal with you.
100% this
obviously, the smart thing would have been for the US to tell the factory to immediately get the right visas which would be expedited by the US, and to say that they need to get the visas or they are getting deported.
Since that’s the smart thing, it’s not what this admin did.
not raid with waist and ankle chains like they’re Hannibal Lecter or something.