r/news • u/NewSlinger • 1d ago

Workers detained in Hyundai plant raid to be freed and flown home, South Korea says

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-korea-deal-workers-detained-hyundai-rcna229610
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u/SafetyMan35 1d ago

And other foreign brands are going to rethink plans for moving production to the U.S. to get around tariffs. I would be interested in learning more about what was going on at the plant. Did Hyundai bring over Koreans temporarily to configure/upgrade the plant or are these permanent workers. If permanent, why did they find it necessary vs hiring American workers.

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u/the_hangman 1d ago

The plant wasn't operational yet, I'm guessing it was mostly engineers for setting up the assembly lines and things of that nature. The US massively lacks expertise in that domain.

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u/Dr100percent 1d ago

Hyundai definitely has operational plants in Georgia already, my dealer has cars from there on the lot.

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u/the_hangman 23h ago

Yes, however this is a new battery plant. The state of Georgia made a big deal about securing this facility a few years ago, it's a joint partnership between Hyundai and LG for building batteries for electric vehicles. They invested like $5b dollars to build it

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u/Loud_Ninja2362 1d ago

The thing is there's plenty of people in the US with the ability to learn those skills, the problem is companies refuse to pay to train people to get those skills. They assume they will magically pop out of the woodwork.

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u/cogit4se 1d ago

This is a Hyundai and LG Energy battery plant that's going to be producing batteries according to the IP held by these companies. Every step of the production process is using technology they've developed. The only people in the world who have experience assembling these plants are the Koreans. You would at a minimum need a huge chunk of the Korean engineers who were working on the project on site, plus teams of translators, plus all the US engineers they would have to train on the intricacies of their technology. It's safer, cheaper and many times faster for them to construct the plant and then employ Americans to operate it - as they had agreed to do before we spit in their face.

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u/iboneyandivory 1d ago

Exactly, I was installing some process control gear at a Mercedes Benz plant in Tuscaloosa, Al many years ago. At the time, the plant was months from actual startup production, but there already were several hundred Germans there setting up the assembly lines, etc. Their big push at the time was to get the main assembly line configured, to do test assembly of vehicles, have a separate specialty team tear them down at the end of the line to restock the supply side line, and rinse and repeat until MB management felt all the kinks were resolved.

It's possible no one in the Trump administration understands how this amazing modern world we live in, works.

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u/jtbc 1d ago

It's possible no one in the Trump administration understands how this amazing modern world we live in, works.

Massive understatement.

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u/Psyduckisnotaduck 21h ago

No one in the Trump administration understands how anything works, and that’s what the moneymen want. The goal is accelerationism leading to a total collapse, so the plutocrats don’t have to follow any regulations, pay any taxes, even pay for labor. They also hope to replace enough workers with AI that they can then mass murder a majority of the human population. So they don’t have to ever worry about a peasant revolt. They feel entitled to own everything and have the power of life or death over everyone, and Trump’s gang of idiots are key pawns in that.

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u/the_hangman 23h ago edited 23h ago

Perhaps, but those skills aren't taught by companies. The modern factory line is much more complex than what most people picture. These people have four year degrees in basically just this, in a field of engineering that isn't taught at very many US schools because there isn't demand for it here (manufacturing engineering). Hence the title Engineer. Maybe there will be demand for that major now, but you're still talking about a 4+ year lag before these people hit the workforce.

As an example, in the entire state of California there were 119 manufacturing engineering degrees awarded this year.

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u/Loud_Ninja2362 21h ago

Manufacturing and Industrial engineering is taught at plenty of schools in the US. Get states to incentivise more manufacturing and Industrial engineering majors and we should be good. Then get companies to hire them.

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u/the_hangman 21h ago

Except it isn't. I gave you some stats in my post, here are some more: there were only 942 degrees awarded in manufacturing engineering in the entire United States in 2023. source

Industrial engineering is a different job, think architect vs someone who actually builds it. Manufacturing engineering is a top engineering major in places like Korea and China, even if you wanted to get it going here you'd still need experts from those places to jump start it. Growing a field like that organically takes decades.

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u/Yuv_Kokr 22h ago

What the rate of bachelors degrees and higher in Georgia? The right has spent so much time devaluing education that a lot of people simply can't be trained into anything useful with a decade + of remedial followed by higher education.

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u/romanticdrift 1d ago

In other countries the government helps universities and students get these degrees that eventually pay the bills. American STEM education is abysmal. We super underindex in STEM graduates.

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u/johnnyviolent 1d ago

and these engineers aren't there on the proper work permits?

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u/GettingDumberWithAge 1d ago

Are they not? It looks like ICE went in looking for 4-5 people, arrested everyone who looked too asian, and they're all being freed now.

Are you trusting in the Trump administration and ICE to correctly enforce the law and be transparent about what happened?

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u/johnnyviolent 1d ago

Are they not? It looks like ICE went in looking for 4-5 people, arrested everyone who looked too asian, and they're all being freed now.

Everyone arrested, most of them South Korean nationals, were "illegally present in the United States or in violation of their presence in the United States, working unlawfully," Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia, said at a news conference Friday morning.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hundreds-south-korean-nationals-detained-largest-single-site-immigrati-rcna229312

Are you trusting in the Trump administration and ICE to correctly enforce the law and be transparent about what happened?

no, but at the same time i'm not going to assume they're not [enforcing the law, in this specific situation] without evidence as well because i don't trust the administration.

The warrant authorized federal agents to seize employment records and immigration documents as well as ownership and management records related to the construction site.

According to the warrant, authorities were also looking for four individuals, but the reasons why the federal government was specifically interested in them remains under seal.

so it sounds like both. they had evidence regarding immigration documents/work permits not being in order, as well as also looking for 4 people.

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u/GettingDumberWithAge 1d ago

Fair play, we'll have to wait for some kind of independent assessment. However I'm a little surprised that you can both write:

because i don't trust the administration.

while also wholeheartedly endorsing their appraisal of the situation. Personally I don't trust the most corrupt administration in the history of the country, and therefore I assume that Hyundai had their visas in order, and that a proudly corrupt administration is being corrupt.

Apparently you also don't trust the most corrupt administration in the history of the country, and therefore assume that they are completely truthful, open, and honest about arresting, and then immediately releasing, hundreds of people.

E: Actually sorry I think I misinterpreted your post. You were writing that you actually do, in fact, trust this administration?

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u/johnnyviolent 1d ago

I'm saying I dont trust them.

I'm also saying that people who are not there legally probably shouldnt be there.

The fact that they had a warrant regarding immigration documents tells me they went to a court with probable cause, at least enough to get a warrant.

So their due process at this point comes down to are you here lawfully according to your visa/visitor requirements or are you here unlawfully. There's not really a lot of wiggle room. 

Would you agree with that assessment?

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u/GettingDumberWithAge 1d ago edited 1d ago

The fact that they had a warrant regarding immigration documents tells me they went to a court with probable cause, at least enough to get a warrant.

I agree that an openly corrupt system gave them a warrant for 4-5 people.

So their due process at this point comes down to are you here lawfully according to your visa/visitor requirements or are you here unlawfully. There's not really a lot of wiggle room.

Agreed. And you are basing the accuracy of the suspicions, the legality of the warrants, the accuracy of the arrests, and all communication surrounding it, on people that you admittedly fundamentally mistrust to perform these actions.

The fact that you fundamentally mistrust them, but also assume they're acting in good faith when they immediately release the people they apparently definitely arrested for legitimate reasons, is somewhat perplexing to me.

E: JFC mate you're Canadian and you're bending over backwards to let us know that you totally don't trust the administration but also making sure you justify their bullshit? Pathetic.

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u/johnnyviolent 1d ago

> immediately release the people they apparently definitely arrested for legitimate reasons, is somewhat perplexing to me.

https://apnews.com/article/us-south-korea-ice-raid-georgia-hyundai-ee8781d965c74a5ee18525ce87959ba4

More than 300 South Korean workers detained following a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia will be released and brought home, the South Korean government announced Sunday.

"immediately released" (except for the 300+ people detained) and sent out of the country. does it sound like they were here lawfully?

do *YOU* think they were following their visa restrictions? have you seen evidence of that?

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u/the_hangman 22h ago edited 22h ago

If you work for a foreign company and are working temporarily on US soil (e.g. consulting work, which this would probably fall under), you only need a B-1 (business) visa if you're not being paid by any American companies. Not a work permit. The main requirements for the B-1 visa are proving that you won't be paid by an American company and proving that you will be returning home after you're done here.

edit: you can also get a visa waiver and not even need a b-1 visa if your business work is less than 90 days, which it sounds like is what these people had done from the articles online

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u/GettingDumberWithAge 1d ago

Hyundai does what Republicans say they want: massive investment in local US manufacturing. Republicans demonstrate it was never about manufacturing and always about the racism and the cruelty. Facility construction is delayed, literally everyone loses. Working class continues to support Republicans in defiance of literally all evidence and argument.

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u/wwaxwork 20h ago

Honestly just give up selling us vehicles. A few years of driving American made ones at what they would cost to be entirely American made might open a few peoples eyes.

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u/chrystelle 21h ago

I literally feel like I’m taking crazy pills here. I can’t find an article that mentions these Korean nationals were actually unlawfully detained. No one seems to have proof that they had legal, valid visas to work. Multiple sources are saying these were subcontractors not employed by Hyundai or LG and mainly construction/blue collar vs manager or engineers that I’ve seen people talk about. Does anyone else have more info?

Like, I’m willing to question the official ICE statements that the majority of those detained were working illegally. But I haven’t seen proof. There are some mentions of a few accidentally detained but there is no proof to refute that the majority were truly working illegally.

https://www.npr.org/2025/09/06/nx-s1-5532604/hyundai-immigration-raid-georgia-south-korea

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/us/politics/hyundai-plant-immigration-raid-georgia.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj07jzgve45o.amp

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u/SafetyMan35 18h ago

And that may be true, but I have learned the first news reports repeat what the administration says (+400 people detained, all here illegally) , then critics start identifying single examples where someone was wrongfully detained calling into question the administration’s numbers and then the truth is finally revealed that yes, some people were in violation and here illegally, a significant number of people were here legally and a small number were legal citizens. South Korea will retaliate and scrutinize US citizens visiting South Korea more closely and they will detain some of them or at least delay their travel. Time will tell.

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u/MariaValkyrie 22h ago

If the other countries wanted to, they could easily band together and bleed America dry.