In a rare turn of events, Donald Trump criticized one of ICE’s raids and called it “stupid.” Talking at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, Trump slammed the ICE raid at Hyundai’s electric vehicle plant in Georgia that led to almost 300 South Korean workers being detained and eventually deported.
Trump’s comments come as some of the workers have returned to work in the US after having their visas reissued. Talking about the incident, Trump said, “We had one case in Georgia where a battery factory. Batteries are very dangerous to make. They’re complex, much more complex than people understand. And they brought in, they spent a billion dollars to build a factory. And they were told to get out.”
He then added, “And I said, ‘Stop it. Don’t be stupid.’ And we worked it out. And now they’re teaching our people how to do it.” Trump then continued, “I don’t think you can open up a big plant with your friend from Taiwan, where we’re going to have 40 or 50% of the computer chip business and I don’t think you can do that with people that don’t even know what a chip looks like. Do you agree with that? So somehow, you know, the people that are against this are really, really smart. They’re unbelievable patriots, but they just don’t understand.”
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It should be noted here that HL-GA Battery Co., which operates the plant, announced on Thursday that work has resumed with both new and returning employees. The company also released a statement that mentioned, “We remain on track to start production in the first half of next year and continue to actively hire local positions to operate the facility.”
Following the raid in September, the South Korean workers were detained at a Georgia center, and then the South Korean government negotiated a deal to fly them back home. As reported by The Mirror US, “The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s roundup, which included video footage of some of the detained workers shackled in chains, sparked outrage and feelings of betrayal in South Korea.”
While work has resumed and a certain number of previously detained employees have also returned to the US to continue working, the exact number of those individuals is not clear. In September, Trump had initially supported the raid, saying that those workers were in America “illegally.”
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Later, in October, when the President visited Seoul, he talked about the same incident and said, “I was opposed to getting them out.” However, speaking at the US-Saudi Investment Forum, Trump’s stance towards the raid was rather stern.
Besides the Hyundai raid, ICE continues to wreak havoc in different parts of the U.S. with the Trump administration continuing to deploy more troops across different cities. Trump has especially targeted Democrat led cities by deploying the troops, as he has claimed that those cities are most riddled with crimes and criminals despite official data showing otherwise.
