Trump’s ICE agents deported hundreds of South Korean Hyundai employees: Now the president wants the workers to come back
The President of the United States has gone back on his decision to deport hundreds of South Korean Hyundai employees.
Guess. who’s back, back. again: TACO! TACO! Yes, Trump Always Chickens Out is on the agenda once again, this time with South Korean Hyundai workers who were deported by his ICE agents. Here’s the story:
Earlier this year, those kind souls over at ICE carried out a massive immigration enforcement operation at a new manufacturing site of Hyundai Motor Group in Ellabell, Georgia. On September 4, agents arrested roughly 475 people at the facility in a move that was described by officials as the largest single-site immigration raid in the department’s history.
Many of the people detained at the facility were South Korean nationals, who were, shockingly, legally contracted to work as engineers and equipment installers at the site.
So here we have ICE releasing a video of Korean workers in Georgia’s Hyundai/ LG plant being rounded up.
— Richard (@ricwe123) October 4, 2025
They thought they were the kind of highly skilled engineers who could help fulfill President Trump’s goal of reviving American manufacturing.
They were so wrong.... pic.twitter.com/fhqBJ6bLvM
The disruption caused by the raid that appeared to serve only to break ICE records carried with it significant consequences: it not only delayed the opening of the facility that provides jobs to ordinary Americans, but it also exposed, once again, the impossible juxtaposition of encouraging foreign direct investment while also keeping said foreign people out.
It didn’t take long before Donald Trump waded into the debate, sloshing puddle water everywhere. The man behind ICE and its rampage across America said he was “very much opposed” to the raid:
“In fact, before they got out… I said they could stay… and they’re going to be coming back,” he said, if you can work out what that means. “When they come in, they’re making very complex machinery, equipment, things. They’re going to have to bring some people in, at least at that initial phase.”
The US and South Korea remain stuck on all the major details of a $350 billion investment pledge, says President Lee Jae Myung.
— Bloomberg (@business) October 27, 2025
It comes after an ICE raid on a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia last month where hundreds of South Koreans were detained https://t.co/X5MXk5hVFy pic.twitter.com/qg9km1ZjfF
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On the diplomatic front, the incident obviously rattled U.S.–South Korea relations. Seoul voiced concern over how Korean nationals were treated during the raid and the possible human-rights implications, with the workers reportedly not keen on returning: “This has also caused severe trauma for the workers as well and I have heard that some workers do not want to go back,” South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said. “Without taking measures to ensure the safety and rational treatment of these workers, there is a high possibility that factory construction in the US may be significantly postponed.”
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