ICE’s Raid on Hyundai Was as Stupid as It Was Cruel

Korean workers, meanwhile, are vital to the high-tech manufacturing investment the Trump administration has been eager to court from the longtime U.S. ally. The two countries recently made progress toward a $350 billion agreement that would involve Korean companies investing in the U.S. in exchange for more favorable, 15 percent tariffs; after last week’s raid and the ensuing outrage over it across the political spectrum in South Korea, the deal is now deadlocked. Core to prospective investments will be projects like the Hyundai-LG battery plant, which rely heavily on Korean engineers to supervise factory construction and train U.S. workers to operate and service the machines that help produce the lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and for energy storage. A relatively novel industrial process for the U.S., this type of lithium-ion battery production is highly mechanized work, involving volatile substances that can be dangerous or even deadly when handled improperly. Workers in other joint ventures between U.S. car manufacturers and Korean battery makers, including LG, have fought for union representation from the United Auto Workers to secure protections against those sorts of dangers. They’ve raised concerns, as well, about companies providing inadequate translation services between staff from both countries. Just a few weeks ago, a majority of workers at Blue Oval SK—a joint venture between Ford and SK On—voted in favor of joining the UAW. 

In a press statement, the UAW condemned both the raid and Hyundai’s “disgraceful record on worker safety,” adding that the union stands “with all workers—immigrant and native-born alike—against unsafe corporations and militarized attacks on our workplaces.” Referencing Trump’s musing that “if we don’t have the manpower in the United States, bring in Korean workers and train them,” the Korean Federation of Trade Unions wrote in its response to the raid that Trump “treats Korean workers not as equal partners, but as cheap tools to be called in when needed.” The union further demanded the immediate release of all detained Korean workers, and for Korean companies to “face the reality of the U.S. government’s labor oppression and cease indiscriminate investment in the United States. Investments that do not guarantee workers’ rights and safety cannot be justified.”

The fact that Korean investment in the U.S. relies on Korean workers coming here has been a bit awkward for White House, to say the least. “Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Nothing could be further from what his administration is actually doing, however. Aside from criminalizing migrants, Republicans following Trump’s orders are hacking away at the incentives that spurred on those sorts of investments, including Hyundai’s own $26 billion worth of E.V. investments across the U.S. Thanks to Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill, $7,500 consumer-side tax credits for E.V.s will phase out after September, followed by a slew of other subsidies for purchasing and manufacturing low-carbon technologies that were put in place by the Inflation Reduction Act.