South Korea’s foreign minister headed to the U.S. Monday morning to move forward with plans to release hundreds of South Korean nationals arrested last week while working on the construction of a $7.6 billion Hyundai battery plant in Georgia. The move came just days after the Korean carmaker upped investment plans for the U.S. to $26 billion – and threatens to chill relations between the U.S. and one of its staunchest allies. Headlight.News has more.
ICE agents arrested nearly 500 at the Hyundai battery plant under construction near Savannah.
Calling an ICE raid on a Hyundai plant in Georgia “a very serious matter,” Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun headed to Washington, D.C. on Monday to meet with officials from the Trump administration. The trip was triggered by last week’s raid that saw U.S. immigration agents arrest 475 people working on the construction of the $7.6 billion factory, more than 300 of them Korean nationals.
The raid was billed as the largest by ICE since President Donald Trump took office in January and made illegal immigration a high priority for his administration. And the president subsequently issued a warning to foreign companies investing in the U.S. that they need to “hire and train American workers.”
But the raid could have a chilling impact on not only relations between two nations seen as staunch allies, but also on the very foreign investments that Trump has also prioritized. Only days before immigration agents swarmed over the sprawling plant site, Hyundai Motor Group announced it was increasing its planned investments in the U.S. to $26 billion after previously setting a target of $21 billion earlier this year.
The latest developments
Hyundai Executive Chairman Euisin Chung met with President Donald Trump at the White House early this year to announce what now stands as $27 billion in investments in the U.S.
South Korea reached a deal with the U.S. to release the approximately 300 of its nationals who were arrested during the raid last week. It has not been made clear what will happen to the rest of the 475 workers swept up in the raid.
Once the appropriate steps are completed, South Korean government officials said, its citizens will be taken home on a chartered flight. In the meantime, Cho and other Korean officials are planning to work with counterparts to ensure such a situation doesn’t occur again.
It’s unclear how much of an impact the raid will have on progress at the Georgia plant site. The facility — billed as one of the biggest projects ever in the state — is a joint venture between LG Energy and the Hyundai Motor Group. It’s designed to provide batteries for use at the recently opened Hyundai Metaplant, also in Georgia, as well as two other U.S. factories operated by the company.
A chilling effect
The new plant is located just outside Savannah, Georgia.
Ever since the U.S. led a United Nations military force into South Korea to counter a communist incursion in June 1950, the two countries have been close allies, partnering on everything from military maneuvers to trade.
Hyundai Motor Group has become one of the largest automakers operating in the U.S. through its Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands. It currently operates three assembly plants, among other facilities, and was preparing a major expansion that was to expand vehicle and battery production. During a March meeting at the White House, group chairman Euisun Chung announced a $21 billion investment program set to include a new steel mill in Louisiana. Hyundai had previously given $1 million to help fund Trump’s January 2025 inauguration. Days before the Georgia ICE raid, meanwhile, Hyundai announced its planned investment program would jump to $26 billion.
But the arrests may be triggering second thoughts, if not by Hyundai then by other Korean firms, warned Cho Jeongsik, a lawmaker from the liberal governing Democratic Party.
“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, echoing concerns raised by other government and economic officials, along with the Korean media. The raid was “unacceptable,” said opposition party member Kim Gi-hyeon, and will be a “severe blow that will be difficult to heal.’
More Hyundai News
- Hyundai’s U.S. Investment Grows to $26 Billion
- ICE Takes 500 Workers Into Custody at Hyundai Battery Plant
- Hyundai Announces Massive U.S. Expansion Plant
Trump talks tough
The new battery plant will support the Hyundai Metaplant, an EV factory also in Georgia.
“I am hereby calling on all Foreign companies investing in the United States to please respect our nation’s immigration laws,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday. He indicated the U.S. would work with foreign companies to bring in “great technical talent,” but stressed his goal of having foreign investors “hire and train American Workers.”
The raid, according to government officials, followed a three-month investigation. Tom Homan, the head of U.S. border operations, told CNN, “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 U.S. citizen employees.
But questions have been raised about whether or not at least some of the Korean nationals detained actually had appropriate documentation. LG Energy said many of its employees were arrested despite having visas or being covered by a visa waiver program.
Since foreign automakers began investing in U.S. production operations four decades ago, it has become common for them to assign some of their home nationals to oversee construction and subsequently train U.S. workers.
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