WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump said on Sunday that foreign companies need to hire and train American workers and respect immigration laws, following a raid at a Hyundai Motor manufacturing facility in the U.S. state of Georgia last week.
South Korea is moving to pick up some 300 South Koreans who were detained after the raid. U.S. federal agents arrested about 475 workers at Hyundai’s car battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia, on Thursday.
“Following the Immigration Enforcement Operation on the Hyundai Battery Plant in Georgia, I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so. What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers.”
Trump made the post shortly after telling reporters he would look at what happened but that the incident had not harmed his relationship with South Korea.
He also floated the idea that he would look at the possibility of some foreign manufacturing experts being allowed into the country to help train American workers.
The South Korean government has expressed regret about the arrests and the release of the footage showing the operation involving armored vehicles detaining the workers who were shackled and taken in.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Trevor Hunnicutt, Costas Pitas, Susan Heavey and Helen Coster; Editing by Kim Coghill and Stephen Coates)
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