Topline
South Korean nationals, who were detained by U.S. immigration authorities last week following a raid on a Hyundai electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia, will return to their home country voluntarily instead of being deported, authorities in Seoul said Monday, after President Donald Trump said foreign companies investing in the U.S. must respect the country’s immigration laws.
This image from video provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows manufacturing plant employees waiting to have their legs shackled at the Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicle plant.
Associated Press
Key Facts
According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, authorities in Seoul plan to send a chartered flight on Wednesday to help its detained citizens leave the U.S. after talks with Washington.
Around 300 South Korean nationals were taken into custody by immigration authorities last week, and they are being held at a detention center in Folkston, Georgia.
In a parliamentary session on Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said talks are being held with Washington at “all levels” to ensure the detained workers won’t face any future entry restrictions into the U.S. due to this incident.
Cho is traveling to Washington to help the detained workers leave the U.S., and plans to meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss expanding his country’s quota in the treaty investor visa program.
Cho also said he will attempt to negotiate with the U.S. to create a special work visa quota for South Korean investors—similar to the E3 visa meant only for skilled Australian workers.
What Has Trump Said About The Hyundai Factory Raid?
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday evening, Trump wrote: “I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws.” He then added: “Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so. What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers.” It is unclear if the president’s statement means his administration is working on a special visa for companies investing in the U.S. Trump first addressed the raid earlier on Sunday, after landing at Joint Base Andrews following his trip to New York to watch the U.S. Open Men’s final. He acknowledged that the entry of skilled technical foreign workers was necessary to train Americans, saying: “If you don’t have people in this country right now that know about batteries, maybe we should help them along and let some people come in and train our people to do, you know, complex things, whether it’s battery manufacturing or computer manufacturing or building ship.” He said his administration will “look at that whole situation,” without further details and insisted his relationship with South Korea was still “great.” Despite this, Trump defended the raid on the Hyundai Plant, saying the detained workers were in the U.S. “illegally.”