WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s driving force to stimulate American manufacturing Invite foreign investment in the US He bumped into one of his other priorities: cracking down on illegal immigration.
Almost a week after immigration authorities A massive Hyundai battery plant was attacked. South Korean president Lee Jae Myung warned the country, showing more than 300 Korean workers detained in Georgia, some of which were tied up in chains. Other companies may be reluctant It will feature Trump’s invitation to pour money into the US.
If the US cannot immediately issue visas to technicians or others Skilled workers had to fire plantsand then “establishing a local factory in the United States will be a serious disadvantage or very difficult for us,” Lee said Thursday. “They’re going to wonder if they should do that.”
The attack and the subsequent diplomatic crisis It shows that the Trump administration’s massive deportation goals are opposed to efforts to bring money from overseas to drive the US economy and create more jobs. It moves like Immigration enforcement at work and Visa Restrictions There could be a risk of alienating allies who have pledged to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the US Avoid high customs.
South Korea is already a big investor in the US
Trump’s economic agenda is built in use Massive tariffs on importsHe repeatedly said that if foreign companies produce in the US, he could escape his tariffs if they were to produce in the US, as a udge to force manufacturing back to the US, including a 15% collection of South Korean products. Already a top investor, South Korea has pledged to invest $350 billion in the US Both announced trade agreements July.
Last year, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis invested in undeveloped land earlier than any other country in 2022, and in previous undeveloped lands more than any other country.
but, A dramatic summary of Koreans Others working on setting up battery plants are threatening to get cold to the investment push. In fact, it appears Trump is trying to cancel the damages.
While demanding foreign investors “legally bring in your very clever people,” Trump has promised to “make you quick and legally possible.”
“President Trump will continue to continue his promise to be the best place in the world for the United States to do business while enforcing federal immigration laws,” White House spokesman Abigail Jackson said in a statement Thursday.
For now, Koreans are furious and immigration experts are confused. It has been a common practice for decades for foreign companies, such as Japanese and German automakers who built factories in the Midwest and Southern United States, sending technical experts from their own countries to help them open plants in the United States. Most of them train American workers and then go home.
“Japanese managers, senior engineers and other technical experts had to come to the US to set up something like this,” said Lee Blanstetter, professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, who studied Japanese automotive factories in the US.
American companies are doing the same thing and will temporarily start operating overseas to our workers.
Some experts call it a confusing “performance” raid
The US immigration and customs enforcement agency began compiling last week at a manufacturing site that state officials touted as Georgia’s largest economic development project.
“We’re excited to be able to help you understand the importance of our efforts,” said Ben Armstrong, executive director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Industrial Performance Center. “The presence of these workers should not have been a surprise.”
The US immigration officer may have audited workers’ documents without drama, retired immigration lawyer Dan Kowalski added, “It’s 100% performance to arrest, arrest and chain and bondage.”
It had something to do with “hoping to look tough – arresting as many foreigners as possible for photography.”
Kevin Minor, an immigration lawyer in Atlanta, said the US work visa category challenges foreign workers quickly and easily.
Some run with a competitive lottery system, while others wear hats for seasonal workers or are restricted to managers and executives. Other short-term visas have strict employment restrictions.
After meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington this week, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said he agreed to establish a collaborative working group for discussions to create new visa categories to facilitate South Korean companies’ work in the US.
Deputy Chief Christopher Landau is also scheduled to visit Seoul this weekend.
We are seeking modifications to the US visa system
Hyundai’s “desires to get this up and running as quickly as possible has driven head-on into the often time-consuming process the US government needs to issue business visas,” says Carnegie Mellon’s Branstetter.
US authorities say people detained are “working illegally” in factories. Charles Cuck, a lawyer representing some of the Koreans detained, said the “majority” of South Korean workers were. Perform work permitted under the visa program.
Julia Gerratt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Institute for Immigration Policy, said work visas require reforms, like almost every other aspect of the U.S. immigration system.
“Our visa system doesn’t imagine a scenario of this kind,” said Geratt, who would introduce skilled foreign workers needed to initially set up the factory. The US has several country-specific visa categories, which makes it easy to take certain foreign workers, such as Mexico, Australia and Singapore.
“The goal” and Armstrong of MIT said “it is to make as streamlined foreign direct investment as possible.”
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