With Hyundai raid, Trump's immigration crackdown runs into his push for foreign investment

Employees stand in a line with their hands against a wall. Officers stand a few paces away from them.
This image from video provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via DVIDS shows manufacturing plant employees waiting to have their legs shackled at the Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicle plant, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Ellabell, Ga. (Corey Bullard/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP)

President Donald Trump’s push to revitalize American manufacturing by luring foreign investment into the U.S. has run smack into one of his other priorities: cracking down on illegal immigration.

Hardly a week after immigration authorities raided a sprawling Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, detained more than 300 South Korean workers and showed video of some of them shackled in chains, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned that the country’s other companies may be reluctant to take up Trump’s invitation to pour money into the United States.

The detained South Koreans were released Thursday and most were flown home.