The US rounded up hundreds of Koreans who were overseeing the construction of a new factory a week or two ago. They had the correct visas for their roles but were held for more than a week. Trump said they could stay but they left because nobody wants to stay in a dangerous, fascist hellhole like the US. Now Korean companies and workers are pulling entirely out of the US and cutting plans and investments. FAFO.
Most didn’t actually, they were here on essentially visit visas working for the setup stint and getting paid back home in SK. Hyundai says they did it to skirt around the US’s poor short term labor policies, some say Hyundai did it for cheaper SK labor in spinning up the factory, and ICE says they did it because boogey man evil foreign entity garbage.
Regardless, I wouldn’t stick around for a second shot no matter how many guarantees Trump is offering, since he flip flops on a minute basis, and was likely completely aware of the planned ICE operation. Hyundai might just try to recruit new workers from SK if Trump allows, but I’m sure not many if any are going to take that offer after this fiasco.
They claim there just isn’t any qualified workers so they had to use their own nationals. The USA doesn’t seem to actually have any good short term work visas they could really apply for so it’s a mixture of everything bad…
I think it’s more the shock of having their countrymen in chains that forced the Koreans to go home. It was front page news in SK.
Steven Schrank, a special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations in Georgia and Alabama, said at a Sept. 5 press conference that the arrested workers crossed the U.S. border illegally, violated or overstayed their visas, or had entered the United States under a visa waiver program that prohibited them from working.
Immigration lawyer Charles Kuck told PolitiFact he is representing 12 of the detained people, some of whom are Korean. He said some of his clients entered the United States using either a business visa or the visa waiver program that South Korea participates in. These programs allow people to legally enter the country for a limited time and perform specific business activities. But people can’t work or be paid by U.S. companies while under these immigration statuses.
South Korean leaders, including President Lee Jae Myung, have denounced the raid, calling it “unjust infringements on the activities of our people and businesses.”
Which is a shitty excuse for not having the correct visa. If the US.government won’t issue visas don’t come.
Hyundai deliberatly endangered the.welfare of their employees by having them break the law. Getting away.with it for a few years by nudge nudge wink wink looking the other way is also pathetic.
So.lets see what Soith Korea’s stance is about working in South Korea on the wrong visa ?
No matter which way you want to spin this narrative:
American ICE agents put Korean citizens in handcuffs and ankle restraints
multiple people were detained in a single cell, and denied Miranda rights and consular access
the Korean government is taking this seriously
multiple billions of investment and lots of jobs were/are on the line.
talk is in the wind to relocate this investment (and hence the jobs) either to Mexico or Canada
Overstaying a visa in Korea would absolutely not land you the same treatment, but go ahead with your whataboutism. You keep digging that hole 'Mericaints. Eventually you’ll make it to Korea.
Hyundai deliberatly endangered the.welfare of their employees
Any company sending employees to the SHITHOLE COUNTRY that is the USA is obviously endangering them.
The visas did not allow employment, but were valid for work-related travel. As they were employees of a foreign company here on behalf of the foreign company the visas were valid for that purpose. ICE changed the meaning of those visas after the fact to save face and justify their illegal raid and detentions.
Am I missing something context? The article talks about Korean workers being sent home because they have the wrong visa. Did they vote for this?
The US rounded up hundreds of Koreans who were overseeing the construction of a new factory a week or two ago. They had the correct visas for their roles but were held for more than a week. Trump said they could stay but they left because nobody wants to stay in a dangerous, fascist hellhole like the US. Now Korean companies and workers are pulling entirely out of the US and cutting plans and investments. FAFO.
That is a good meal for the leopards indeed.
Most didn’t actually, they were here on essentially visit visas working for the setup stint and getting paid back home in SK. Hyundai says they did it to skirt around the US’s poor short term labor policies, some say Hyundai did it for cheaper SK labor in spinning up the factory, and ICE says they did it because boogey man evil foreign entity garbage.
Regardless, I wouldn’t stick around for a second shot no matter how many guarantees Trump is offering, since he flip flops on a minute basis, and was likely completely aware of the planned ICE operation. Hyundai might just try to recruit new workers from SK if Trump allows, but I’m sure not many if any are going to take that offer after this fiasco.
They claim there just isn’t any qualified workers so they had to use their own nationals. The USA doesn’t seem to actually have any good short term work visas they could really apply for so it’s a mixture of everything bad…
I think it’s more the shock of having their countrymen in chains that forced the Koreans to go home. It was front page news in SK.
A few did, the rest did not. ICEs theatrics aside.
https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/sep/10/south-korea-work-visa-immigration-raid-hyundai-ICE/
Which is a shitty excuse for not having the correct visa. If the US.government won’t issue visas don’t come.
Hyundai deliberatly endangered the.welfare of their employees by having them break the law. Getting away.with it for a few years by nudge nudge wink wink looking the other way is also pathetic.
So.lets see what Soith Korea’s stance is about working in South Korea on the wrong visa ?
They invested in this to avoid the Trump tariffs so really a complete own goal from the USA.
No matter which way you want to spin this narrative:
Overstaying a visa in Korea would absolutely not land you the same treatment, but go ahead with your whataboutism. You keep digging that hole 'Mericaints. Eventually you’ll make it to Korea.
Any company sending employees to the SHITHOLE COUNTRY that is the USA is obviously endangering them.
Fucking QED.
Canada would likely welcome this investment, but it will be tricky to choose a site given all our Flatlanders are demented from not seeing Ocean.
So, pick a region with a shoreline, and hope that’s enough.
The visas did not allow employment, but were valid for work-related travel. As they were employees of a foreign company here on behalf of the foreign company the visas were valid for that purpose. ICE changed the meaning of those visas after the fact to save face and justify their illegal raid and detentions.
Many were here under esta which allows travel and meetings, but not labor.
Did any worker build the site or only oversee stuff?
Americans voted to ‘make America great again’ and now people who are capable of setting up manufacturing in USA are leaving or hesitant to go there.
The state just fucked itself is the angle I assume.