Over 300 South Koreans Arrested During Immigration Raid of Hyundai Factory Construction Site in Georgia
It looks a subcontractor was trying to skirt US immigration laws. With ICE strictly enforcing immigration laws companies need to do their due diligence to comply with them:
Nearly 500 people were arrested as part of an immigration raid at a Hyundai Motor battery plant under construction in Georgia as part of a criminal investigation into employment practices at the site, a Homeland Security official said Friday.
The operation Thursday resulted in the arrest of 475 individuals. More than 300 were South Korean nationals, according to an official from the country.
Those arrested had illegally crossed the border, entered through a visa waiver program that prohibited them from working or had overstayed their visas, Steven Schrank, a special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Atlant a, said at a press conference Friday morning.
“This was the largest single site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security investigations,” Schrank said.
You can read more at the link, but instead of getting an H1B visa the workers had B1 visas. These visas are for attending business meetings not construction work. The subcontractor probably got their workers into the U.S. using the B1 visa because H1Bs are more complicated and highly scrutinized since you have to show an American can’t do the work.
What would Korea do if 300 Americans showed up on a wrong visa and began constructing a building in Seoul? They would probably have the same reaction to what is happening in Georgia.
My second trip to the UK was for a subsidiary of GM that had tried this and got caught. So all of us after that (they had arrested a Director-level manager) had to fill out the extra paperwork and be interviewed by the police. I still have the old expired passport with visa somewhere…
Sure, it’s a pain; but much better in the long run for everyone. Look at the UK now.
The media reports on page 1 that Trump can only deport thousands of illegal aliens when there are millions. Ha ha ha!
On page 5, the media mentions that somewhere between a million and a million and a half illegals have already self-deported to save themselves the misery of being caught.
On page 10, the media reports that these jobs didn’t go away and that Americans WILL do the Jobs Americans Won’t Do… though they expect an American wage.
The next step is to make it so expensive for companies to get caught that the math works out to pay American wages to Americans. Few companies are ideological about this. They will mostly follow the path of least financial resistance.
And, of course, demonstrate the same level of meticulousness when tax auditing little old ladies so that if the taxes and other witholdings for the illegal aliens aren’t all fully on the up and up, it gets personal with the people who made the decisions.
Probem solved in months.
In China, when a foreign company, such as Apple, sets up a factory, the local governments would move mountains to make sure that Apple was comfortable.
They did that knowing that Apple would bring in jobs and economic development to their regions.
Trump demands Korea invests billions in the US especially in MAGA states, because he knows that to keep his MAGA crowd happy and content, they need to have high paying jobs.
But he is unwilling to do what is needed to make the Korean companies comfortable.
Which begs the question on why Korean companies should spend money to save Trump’s ass?
Maybe it’s high time we take our business elsewhere and let the MAGA crowd live forever in Third World poverty.
“In China, when a foreign company, such as Apple, sets up a factory, the local governments would move mountains to make sure that Apple was comfortable.”
When Korean companies set up a factory in America, the same happens… subsidies, tax hollidays, zoning exceptions, land grants, expidited permitting, etc.
“They did that knowing that Apple would bring in jobs and economic development to their regions.”
But in the Korean factory case, construction workers were imported from Korea instead of hiring Americans. And modern automated Korean factories have amazingly few workers compared to their output.
…so your comparison is invalid.
The joke is on the locals who thought they would benefit far more than they will.
But this is good for America and this is good for the multinationals.
Koreans who think Hyundai and LG are still Korean companies at least will have pride.
The Apple factory in China is actually Foxconn and other Chinese companies. I doubt there is many Americans working there. Anyway I am more interested in knowing how many of the jobs Koreans were doing at the Hyundai plant in Georgia could be done by Americans?
Anyway I am more interested in knowing how many of the jobs Koreans were doing at the Hyundai plant in Georgia could be done by Americans?
Let me educate you.
This is from the Dong-A Ilbo a conservative right-wing Korean newspaper.
Since it’s a conservative paper, you’ll probably find it easier to swallow than the left-leaning Hankyoreh—or as you expats used to call it, ‘Hanki.’
https://www.donga.com/news/amp/all/20250907/132336921/1
미국 공화당, MAGA(미국을 다시 위대하게) 세력은 글로벌 기업의 현지 투자는 미국 노동자를 위한 채용으로 이어져야 한다고 주장하고 있다. 하지만 글로벌 기업들은 미국 내 핵심 지역 이외의 지역에 공장을 짓고 있는 만큼 현실적으로 우수 인력을 적기에 채용하는 것이 쉽지 않은 상황에 직면해 있다.
이 때문에 한국 기업 사정에 밝은 국내 인력을 미국으로 보내 공장 준공 납기를 맞추고 공장에 투입하는 방식이 그동안 관행적으로 이어졌던 것으로 풀이된다.
The U.S. Republican Party, particularly the MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) faction, argues that local investments by global companies should translate into hiring American workers. However, since many global firms are building plants outside of key U.S. industrial hubs, they face practical difficulties in securing skilled workers in a timely manner.
As a result, it is understood that Korean companies have customarily dispatched local staff familiar with corporate practices to the United States in order to meet plant completion deadlines and support operations
Since these factories are in MAGA country—where skilled workers are scarce (read: under educated with low brainpower)—and the few with real skills won’t move there (if you’ve ever dealt with people like @setnaffa, you’ll understand why), Korean firms have had little choice but to send their own skilled workers to meet deadlines.
“Anyway I am more interested in knowing how many of the jobs Koreans were doing at the Hyundai plant in Georgia could be done by Americans?
Let me educate you.”
Ignore that bunk “education”.
Let ME educate you.
It turns out there are entire skilled American workforces in fields such as construction, welding, oil & gas, factory fabrication, etc., which expect to work remotely for extended periods of time.
While they are willing to endure some degrees of hardship, they do expect industry-standard wages.
Don’t believe “Americans can’t do these difficult jobs” like drywall, carpet, pipes, electrical wires, etc.
And don’t believe they can’t install high-tech equipment… which is pretty idiotproof with detailed plans and a factory rep supervising the install.
Somehow, I feel I wasted my time with this training course, as you likely already knew this.
And Korea Thing was looking at his phone the whole time.