President Donald Trump on Sunday defended an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation that led to the arrest of hundreds of foreign workers at a Hyundai battery plant construction site in Georgia, while urging a policy that would allow foreign experts to temporarily remain in the United States to train American workers.
Homeland Security Investigations said 475 people, mostly South Korean nationals, were arrested in the raid at the under-construction battery facility. Trump told reporters that ICE was right to remove those in the country illegally but that the United States should consider bringing in overseas experts so Americans can be trained in advanced manufacturing skills.
"If you don’t have people in this country right now that know about batteries, maybe we should help them along," Trump said, adding that industries such as shipbuilding and computer manufacturing also need skilled trainers. "We do have to work something out where we bring in experts so that our people can be trained so that they can do it themselves." He said on Truth Social that foreign companies investing in the United States should respect immigration laws and that his administration would make it "quickly and legally possible" for them to bring in technical talent, while asking that those companies hire and train American workers.
South Korea's government reached an agreement with U.S. authorities to secure the release of hundreds of the detained workers, and President Lee Jae Myung's office said Seoul would send a charter plane to return the workers in the coming days. The South Korean government said it felt "concern and regret" over the events surrounding the raid.
Homeland Security Investigations chief Steven Schrank said the detained workers fell into several categories: some had crossed the border illegally, others had overstayed visas, and a number had entered under waivers that barred them from accepting employment. Many of those detained were employed by subcontractors working on the site, HSI said. Hyundai, which owns the project site, said the workers were not directly employed by the company.
The Georgia operation, carried out Sept. 5, 2025, was one of the largest workplace immigration enforcement actions of Trump's presidency and reflects the administration's broader focus on curbing illegal immigration. Federal officials said the arrests targeted individuals violating immigration laws rather than company executives or the automaker itself.
Trump framed the arrests and his training proposal as complementary: enforcing immigration laws while creating legal avenues for employers to bring in temporary expertise to transfer skills to American workers. He emphasized the need to rebuild domestic industrial capabilities through on-the-job training by those with technical experience.
Hyundai and its U.S. affiliates have described the Georgia site as a major investment in electric vehicle and battery production. Company statements have stressed reliance on contractors and subcontractors for construction labor. U.S. labor and immigration officials have not announced immediate changes to visa policy following the raid, and White House officials did not provide an immediate response to the president's comments.
The episode drew attention from both Washington and Seoul and could prompt further discussions about how to reconcile stricter enforcement of immigration laws with workforce needs in emerging industries. For now, authorities in both countries are coordinating the processing and repatriation of the detained workers, and the South Korean government is arranging transport for those who will return home in the coming days.