President Donald Trump has issued a warning to foreign companies operating in the United States, urging them to follow immigration laws and prioritize American workers in their hiring practices.
“Your investments are welcome,” Trump said in a statement, “but we ask in return that you hire and train American workers.”
The message follows a recent immigration enforcement operation at a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, where federal authorities reportedly uncovered violations involving undocumented workers employed through contractors.
The incident has brought a debate over labour practices and immigration enforcement at foreign-owned manufacturing facilities across the U.S.
Trump stated that while he supports legal immigration and the importation of “very smart people, with great technical talent,” companies must comply with American hiring laws.
Trump Warns Foreign Companies
The raid in the Hyundai Battery Plant in Georgia marked the largest Homeland Security raid in US history, as footage emerged of rows of workers being lined up and shuttled to a nearby grass patch watched closely by federal agents.
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In all, 475 immigrants suspected of working in the US illegally were detained, with the vast majority from South Korea.
This represented almost half of the 1,200-strong workforce.
“We will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so,” Trump said. “What we ask in return is that you hire and train American workers.”
Framing the issue as both an economic and patriotic imperative, Trump called for unity through shared economic opportunity.
“Together, we will all work hard to make our Nation not only productive, but closer in unity than ever before,” he said.
South Korea Workers to Return Home
More than 300 South Korean workers detained following a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia will be released and brought home.
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Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff for President Lee Jae Myung, said that South Korea and the U.S. had finalized negotiations on the workers’ release.
He said South Korea plans to send a charter plane to bring the workers home as soon as the remaining administrative steps are completed.
US immigration authorities had reported they detained 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals, when hundreds of federal agents raided Hyundai’s sprawling manufacturing site in Georgia, where the Korean automaker makes electric vehicles.
Agents are focusing on a plant that is still under construction, where Hyundai has partnered with LG Energy Solution to produce batteries that power EVs.
More than 300 South Koreans were among the detained.
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