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Trump reacts to ICE raid at Hyundai-LG battery plant: ‘So, we’re gonna look at that whole situation’

September 8, 2025 | | Print Article

At the crossroads of two of the White House’s key agendas, the raid at a battery plant in Georgia found the president issuing a statement about “respect” directly to foreign companies.

“So we’re gonna look at that whole situation.”

(Video Credit: White House)

Late last week, an immigration enforcement operation resulted in the arrest of 475 illegal aliens at the Hyundai-LG battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia. After alleged “unlawful work practices” prompted the raid, which was deemed the “largest single site enforcement operation in the Department of Homeland Security’s history,” President Donald Trump weighed in Sunday on what the outcome meant as it pertained to national sovereignty alongside efforts toward foreign investments.

“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,” wrote Trump in a Truth Social post. “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,” he went on.

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“Together, we will all work hard to make our Nation not only productive, but closer in unity than ever before,” added the president before closing his statement with his name and title in all caps after the increasingly common sign off, “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

In addition to his social media post, Trump was asked about the raid while speaking with reporters at Joint Base Andrews shortly after returning from attending the U.S. Open Tennis Championship in New York.

“And you know, when they’re building batteries, if you don’t have people in this country right now that know about batteries, maybe we should help them along and let some people come in and train our people to do, you know, complex things, whether it’s battery manufacturing or computer manufacturing or building ships,” suggested the chief executive. “So we’re gonna look at that whole situation.”

“But we do have to work something out where we bring in experts so that our people can be trained so that they can do it themselves. Does that make sense?” posited Trump.

As a sizable majority of the illegal aliens arrested during the raid were Korean, Republic of Korea President Lee Jae Myung indicated via spokesperson Sunday that a charter plane would be dispatched to bring the aliens back to South Korea.

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“Negotiations for the release of the detained workers have been concluded,” the spokesperson said. “Only the administrative procedures remain, and once they are completed, a chartered flight will depart to bring our nationals home.”

The raid came only days after the president had riled supporters of the America First agenda with an announcement that 600,000 Chinese students would be allowed into the United States to attend universities. As that had prompted backlash, so too were reactions to continued efforts to import workers similarly met with scorn and skepticism from some, while others praised the president’s efforts at rebuilding domestic manufacturing.

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Kevin Haggerty
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