The ICE raid at Hyundai was a massive own goal

The president is fixated on America’s Democratic cities. Going after places that welcome immigrants has become a favourite policy. Yet on September 4th his administration arrested 475 foreign workers at a Hyundai electric-car factory just outside Ellabell, Georgia, a sleepy rural town deep in Republican country. Over 400 agents fanned out across the plant, ordering workers to present their papers or be carted off. Most of the people detained were South Korean nationals with the wrong kind of visas. Homeland Security declared it the biggest worksite raid ever conducted in the department’s two-decade history. 

At first glance this makes sense. Donald Trump has made clear his goal of arresting and deporting as many illegal immigrants as possible. But he is also a president who wants to bring back manufacturing and entice foreign companies to invest in big projects on American soil. In Georgia, Hyundai was doing exactly that.

More than a decade ago the state of Georgia, the city of Savannah and four surrounding counties teamed up to woo a big firm to breathe life back into agricultural counties near the coast that did not have enough jobs to keep high-school graduates from leaving. Brian Kemp, the governor, travelled to South Korea to negotiate a deal and eventually secured a $12.6bn investment from Hyundai for a plant that promised 8,500 new jobs. The local economic-development group worked tirelessly to make the rural region attractive to Korean executives: it helped rezone land to allow for more single- and multi-family homes and encouraged voters in a referendum to endorse the construction of more schools. Since the project began in 2022, state and local governments have spent over $350m to improve the roads. They also made the area’s ports deeper and wider to accommodate ships bringing parts in and cars out.

The project has been a smashing success. The factory celebrated its grand opening in March. Cars and T-shirts that day were decorated with “Made in Georgia” stickers. Although the big bosses are foreigners, the suppliers are mostly locals. Within an hour’s drive of the plant 20 companies that sell materials or component parts to Hyundai have popped up. Locally sourced products will make up more than 90% of the finished vehicles. The project is bringing more economic benefit to Georgia than the Atlanta Olympics did, says Trip Tollison, the head of the Savannah Economic Development Authority. Where there were Dollar Generals and barbecue joints there are now Korean grocers and high-end hot-pot restaurants.

The raid puts Mr Kemp—not Mr Trump’s favourite Republican, but an influential Republican nonetheless—in an awkward position. The governor sees the factory as his biggest economic achievement, defending it even when members of his party criticised him for backing Joe Biden’s green-energy agenda. Now Mr Kemp is mostly staying quiet, perhaps partly because the state clearly played a role in the raid. Georgia troopers blocked off roads before the feds went in, and Georgia Department of Corrections buses took the foreigners away.

Mr Tollison is confident that the immigration raid will not put the Hyundai deal in jeopardy. It could, however, make other companies more skittish. Cho Hyun, South Korea’s foreign minister, flew to Washington on September 8th, returning just weeks after his president negotiated a 15% tariff cap with Mr Trump. South Korea wants more legal visa options for Korean workers who have specialised skills. Those working at the Hyundai factory illegally were subcontractors flown over to install and inspect line equipment. Korean firms have long complained about lengthy visa waits, which delay construction.

The Savannah economic-development team is working to set up advanced manufacturing programmes at local colleges. They are even teaching the basics in primary school. One day, perhaps, Ellabell will have enough skilled workers to do all the jobs that need doing. But that will do nothing for the region’s, and the country’s, carmaking ambitions now. ■