Ten days after hundreds of South Koreans were detained at a Georgia construction site, President Donald Trump declared Sunday that foreign workers sent to the US are “welcome” and that he does not want to “frighten off” investors.
The Republican, 79, stated in a statement on his Truth Social platform: “I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize investment.”
On September 4, 475 individuals, primarily from South Korea, were taken into custody at the Hyundai-LG electric vehicle battery factory building site in the southeastern US state of Georgia.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials alleged South Koreans had overstayed their visas or held permits that didn’t allow them to perform manual labor.
The Georgia raid was the largest single-site operation conducted since Trump launched a sweeping immigration crackdown across the country.
Images of the workers being shackled and chained during the raid aroused great anxiety in South Korea, even though the United States decided against deporting them.
The workers were deported to Seoul on Friday.
The raid was described as “bewildering” by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who cautioned Thursday that it might deter future investment.
Trump explained in his tweet the reasons for temporarily permitting foreign professionals to work in the US on “extremely complex products.”
“Chips, Semiconductors, Computers, Ships, Trains, and so many other products that we have to learn from others how to make, or, in many cases, relearn because we used to be great at it, but not anymore,” Trump wrote.
“We welcome them, we welcome their employees, and we are willing to proudly say we will learn from them, and do even better than them at their own ‘game,’ sometime in the not too distant future,” Trump added.
Korea’s trade unions have called on Trump to issue an official apology.
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