With Hyundai raid, Trump’s immigration crackdown runs into his push for foreign investment

By DIDI TANG and PAUL WISEMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump s push to revitalize American manufacturing by luring foreign capital into the U S has run smack into one of his other priorities cracking down on illegal immigration Hardly a week after immigration personnel raided a sprawling Hyundai battery plant in Georgia detained more than South Korean workers and presented video of chosen of them shackled in chains South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned that the country s other companies may be reluctant to take up Trump s invitation to pour money into the United States The detained South Koreans were issued Thursday and bulk were flown home If the U S can t promptly issue visas to the technicians and other skilled workers needed to launch plants then establishing a local factory in the United States will either come with severe disadvantages or become very demanding for our companies Lee declared Thursday They will wonder whether they should even do it The raid and subsequent diplomatic problem show how the Trump administration s mass deportation goals are running up against its efforts to bring in money from abroad to drive the U S financial sector and create more jobs Moves like workplace immigration enforcement and visa restrictions could danger alienating allies that are pledging to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the U S to avoid high tariffs South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a news conference to mark days in office at the Blue House in Seoul South Korea Sept Kim Hong-Ji Pool Photo via AP South Korea is already a big investor in the US Trump s economic agenda is built around using hefty tariffs on imports including a levy on South Korean products as a cudgel to force manufacturing to return to the U S He s repeatedly stated foreign companies can escape his tariffs if they produce in America South Korea already a top investor pledged to invest billion in the U S when the two sides communicated a business deal in July It made more investments in new construction such as factories on previously undeveloped land than any other country in Last year it ranked th in the world with billion in total American capital including acquisitions of existing companies according to the U S Bureau of Economic Analysis But the dramatic roundup of South Koreans and others working to set up the battery plant threatens to put a chill on the stake push Indeed Trump seems to be trying to undo the damage Related Articles Trump says he ll send National Guard to Memphis to address crime concerns Suspect in Charlie Kirk killing had become more political and likely acted alone functionaries say Trump threatened Portland with troops to quell protests The mayor says it s not needed Choose your America In the aftermath of the Kirk slaying a snapshot of a fractured nation Suspect in Charlie Kirk killing had become more political and likely acted alone personnel say While demanding that foreign investors LEGALLY bring your very smart people Trump also promised to make it expeditiously and legally accomplishable for you to do so President Trump will continue delivering on his promise to make the United States the best place in the world to do business while also enforcing federal immigration laws White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson explained in a message Thursday For now the South Koreans are furious and immigration experts are puzzled It s been common practice for decades for foreign companies such as the Japanese and German carmakers that have built factories in the American Midwest and South to send technical specialists from their home countries to help open plants in the United States Greater part of them train U S workers then go home Japanese managers senior engineers other technical experts had to come to the United States to set this stuff up disclosed Lee Branstetter a professor of economics and constituents strategy at Carnegie Mellon University who s studied Japanese auto plants in the U S American companies do the same thing sending U S workers overseas temporarily to get operations started This image from video provided by U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement via DVIDS shows manufacturing plant employees waiting to have their legs shackled at the Hyundai Motor Group s electric bicycle plant Thursday Sept in Ellabell Ga Corey Bullard U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP Particular experts call it a baffling performative raid U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched the roundup last week at a manufacturing site that state representatives have touted as Georgia s largest economic advancement project It s really baffling to me why this raid would have occurred explained Ben Armstrong executive director of the Massachusetts Institute of Device s Industrial Performance Center The existence of these workers shouldn t have been a surprise U S immigration functionaries could have audited the workers documents without the drama retired immigration lawyer Dan Kowalski commented adding that raiding and arresting and putting them in chains and shackles is performative It had to do with wanting to look tough arresting as countless foreigners as manageable for the photo-op noted Kowalski who is now a writer and editor U S work visa categories make it a challenge to bring in foreign workers swiftly and easily commented Kevin Miner an immigration lawyer in Atlanta A few run on a highly competitive lottery system are for seasonal workers and have a cap or are restricted to managers and executives Other short-term visas have strict limits on employment After meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week in Washington South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun noted they agreed to set up a joint working group for discussions on creating a new visa category to make it easier for South Korean companies to send their staff to work in the United States Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau also plans to visit Seoul this weekend Calls for fixes to the US visa system Hyundai s desire to get this thing up and running as rapidly as attainable ran head-on into the often time-consuming processes that the U S administration requires in order to issue business visas stated Branstetter of Carnegie Mellon U S officials say those detained were unlawfully working at the plant Charles Kuck a lawyer representing several of the South Koreans who were detained announced the vast majority of the workers from South Korea were doing work authorized under a visa undertaking Julia Gelatt associate director of the U S immigration protocol scheme at the Migration Agenda Institute announced work visas like nearly all other aspects of the U S immigration system need transformation Our visa system does not envision this kind of scenario Gelatt commented of bringing in skilled foreign workers needed for the initial setup of factories The U S has a inadequate country-specific visa categories that make it easier to bring in certain foreign workers like those from Mexico Australia or Singapore The goal announced MIT s Armstrong should be to make foreign direct resources as streamlined as doable