President Trump’s push for more foreign investment in America may face new hurdles after the United States stunned allies last week by arresting hundreds of South Korean workers at a battery manufacturing plant in Georgia in the administration’s largest immigration raid yet.
Trump called for more foreign investment in a social media post Sunday that addressed the raid, saying companies were welcome to invest in the country if they respect U.S. immigration laws.
But foreign companies may think twice about heeding Trump’s call as fallout continues from the massive immigration raid Thursday on an electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia, analysts said.
The raid, which was carried out by hundreds of federal, state and local law enforcement officials, took place just weeks after Trump held a summit with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, and after South Korea — a close U.S. ally — pledged to invest $350 billion in the U.S. as part of a deal reached in July to avoid higher tariffs.
“Allies are receiving mixed signals. The South Korea case has made countries like Japan and even EU nations nervous,” said Andrew Yeo, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
“The Trump administration probably wanted shock value to teach other countries a lesson, but the timing and optics look terrible,” Yeo added.
U.S. and South Korean officials worked quickly over the weekend to reach a deal to release the more than 300 South Korean workers swept up in the raid on the plant, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Company and LG Energy Solution. South Korea said Sunday an agreement was made to release the detainees and fly them back to the country.
The immigration status of the South Korean workers who were arrested was still unclear days after the raid. The operation, which resulted in the detention of roughly 475 workers, was the largest immigration enforcement action taken by U.S. officials since the start of Trump’s second term.
A spokesperson for Hyundai referred Newsweek to a public statement in which the automaker said that none of the workers detained in the raid are direct employees of Hyundai.
“Hyundai is committed to full compliance with all laws and regulations in every market where we operate. This includes employment verification requirements and immigration laws,” Hyundai said in the statement.
LG Energy Solution did not respond to a Newsweek request for comment.
The plant is operated by a separate entity called HGLA Battery Company, and Hyundai does not directly employ any of the workers at the facility, according to a source who agreed to speak on background to discuss the details of the plant’s ownership structure.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a Newsweek request for comment.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters after the raid that it sent a message to companies to follow U.S. immigration law. Trump’s “message today that he sent to the world was, ‘Listen, our laws will be enforced,’” Noem said, according to an Associated Press report.
In his Truth Social post Sunday, Trump said he was “calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws.”
“Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people,” Trump said. He added that he also hoped foreign companies would train and hire U.S. workers for jobs in the country.
But experts said Trump’s immigration policies may hinder his economic goals, as foreign and U.S. companies alike grapple with workplace raids, slow job growth and lingering uncertainty over the president’s tariff policy.
The immigration raid in Georgia will likely have “some kind of chilling or deterring effect, or at least give people pause on the type of investments the Trump administration says that it wants,” said Colin Grabow, a trade expert at the Cato Institute.
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