US President Donald Trump has sought to reassure foreign investors after the arrest of nearly 500 South Korean workers in Georgia earlier this month, saying skilled overseas staff are “welcome” in the US. In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize investment. I want them to bring their people of expertise for a period of time to teach and train our people how to make these very unique and complex products, as they phase out of our Country, and back into their land.” On September 4, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained about 475 people — mostly South Korean nationals — at a Hyundai-LG electric vehicle battery plant construction site. Officials alleged they had overstayed visas or were working on permits that didn’t allow manual labor. The raid, the largest single-site operation since Trump’s wider immigration crackdown began, sparked alarm in Seoul after images showed workers in chains and handcuffs. Though the US stopped short of deportations, South Korea repatriated the workers on Friday. President Lee Jae Myung criticised the raid as “bewildering,” warning it could deter investment. Addressing the issue, Trump said foreign experts were crucial to building “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,” he 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.” Korean trade unions, however, have demanded an official apology from Washington.
