It’s no secret that the current regime (or should it be referred to as a reign?) in Washington seeks to encourage and grow manufacturing in the United States.
Last week’s federal immigration raid on a Hyundai/LG Energy battery plant in Georgia didn’t do much to further that goal.
Some 300 South Korean nationals were among the 475 workers arrested on September 4 by Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal officials on a construction site in Ellabell, Georgia, where the South Korean companies Hyundai and LG Energy Solution are jointly building a battery plant.
Following the raid, LG Energy Solution said its workers were at the factory temporarily to offer training and support for its construction. The site has been shut down since their detention.
According to news reports, the unfinished battery plant is exactly the type of investment the Trump administration (and its predecessors) has courted from South Korea. And it would have created manufacturing jobs. The project is one that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp sought and fostered. It would have produced thousands of manufacturing jobs.
Recall that South Korea pledged to invest billions in the U.S. as part of its tariff negotiations with the current president. The raid also highlights the difficulties that foreign nations have sourcing adequate and proper visas for their employees as they are being exhorted to invest here.
This visa issue was not an unknown problem. South Korean officials said there had been “dozens” of meetings with Congress members, embassy officials, federal government and immigration officials prior to the raid, trying to address the issue.
“I hope that there will never again be an unjust infringement upon the activities of our people and companies in pursuit of the shared development of South Korea and the United States,” South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said.
For now, the detained workers will return to Korea, the factory is closed, and any ability for this project to produce American manufacturing jobs is up in the air.
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
