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.
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