Governments go to extraordinary lengths to attract foreign inward investment. It means bringing jobs and prosperity to often extremely deprived areas without laying out a cent of taxpayers' money. It’s additional funding over and above whatever the government was planning to spend. Trump is keen to see foreign firms investing in America, albeit by employing strong-arm tactics and the use of massive tariffs. How often have we heard him say, “make your products in the USA and you don’t pay tariffs” or words to that effect. He’s recently been on TV in his press conferences, boasting about how he has forced global companies to pledge huge sums in manufacturing investment for US states.
All of which makes the raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on an $8 billion Hyundai-LG battery plant just to the southwest of Savannah, Georgia, all the more surprising. Reports speak of 475 mostly Korean nationals being detained in shackles and taken into custody. About 90% were not directly employed by Hyundai. They were subcontractors doing specialist jobs on the construction of a battery production facility for a nearby and newly completed Hyundai car plant.
Homeland Security claims all 475 were in the US illegally. And perhaps some of them were.
But it’s unthinkable that Hyundai or its subcontractors were deliberately employing undocumented, illegal migrants. The probability is that they were simply working under the wrong visas or were recruited incorrectly. I don’t know if this was the case or not, but if so, you would think the government would work with Korea and Hyundai to straighten things out. It’s a paperwork problem. They aren’t stealing American jobs, far from it.
The ICE operation had been planned for months, so there was ample opportunity to have a quiet word with Hyundai and ask them to regularise the workforce. Trump had pledged to deport the worst of the worst, but here they are arresting the best of the best. They are building a plant that will ADD jobs, hundreds of good, well-paid jobs for years to come, bringing in much-needed wealth to Georgia.
The initial phase of the sprawling site was announced first in March 2022 under Joe Biden, and the first vehicles rolled off the production line last October, presumably using imported batteries. The workers detained last week were employed on the construction of a dedicated battery plant alongside the car factory.
This is what the Republican governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, said at the time the original announcement was made:
“The future of transportation is in the Peach State as we announce the largest project in our state’s history – delivering high-quality jobs on the leading edge of mobility to hardworking Georgians. Not only are we thrilled to welcome Hyundai to Georgia’s coastal region, but it’s incredible that within a year of Georgia’s investment in the Bryan County Megasite, we are locating a world-class project here with a company with great Georgia history!”
Nothing says 'Make America Great Again' more than arresting the very people who are trying to help you do just that by constructing the largest project in the state's history.
If proof were needed that the entire MAGA movement isn't about improving the lot of Americans, bringing back jobs to states that are suffering, or reducing the huge trade deficit in manufactured goods, here it is. It is about white supremacy and nothing else.
South Korea's Foreign Affairs Minister, Cho Hyun, said on Saturday: “If necessary, I am prepared to personally travel to Washington, DC, to engage directly with US officials to resolve this matter”
This will go around the world. How much more difficult will it now be to (a) persuade foreign businesses to invest in the USA and (b) encourage workers to volunteer to travel to America, knowing that a small, bureaucratic visa issue could result in arrest, being shackled, and sent to prison? Would you go? I certainly would think twice about it.
It is pure insanity.
Imagine Trump's reaction to an American worker being detained in a foreign country.
Trump Truth Social
The president’s grifting is becoming the stuff of legend. His family’s wealth is said to have increased by $3.4 billion since 2017. He is making money hand over fist through cryptocurrency, pressing leaders and diplomats to use his hotels, selling cheap merchandise, and just about every other moneymaking scam that you can imagine.
This is in a country where federal employees aren’t allowed to accept gifts over $20 or $50 total from any single source in any year to avoid the potential risk of a conflict of interest. There are emoluments clauses in the American Constitution that forbid any federal official from taking any payment from any foreign government, but Trump seems to get away with accepting a $400 million Boeing 747 and billions in investments into his cryptocurrency scheme.
Bear this in mind when looking at his Truth Social platform, which now features ads for hair restorers, hearing aids, pillows, and - naturally - cryptocurrency. Take a look at these:
His account now looks like a downmarket Poundland. And note, of course, the cryptocurrency being pushed is the Trump family-backed America Bitcoin:
This is the president of the United States, remember. He's taking maximum advantage of his position to enrich himself and his family while in office. Trump can't stop himself from scamming people.
Anyone who thinks this man has the slightest concern for their well-being is as deluded as he is.
