Trump’s Immigration Policy Clashes with Georgia’s Clean Energy Jobs

Grist and WABE, Atlanta’s NPR station, have collaborated to provide this coverage.

In the wake of a historic Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid at an under-construction electric vehicle battery factory in Georgia, South Korean officials are pressing for the return of over 300 detained citizens. The raid, described as the largest single-site investigation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), resulted in a total of 475 arrests.

The factory, part of a vast industrial manufacturing site near Savannah, saw immigration officers make arrests on September 4. The site’s anchor is the new Hyundai electric and hybrid vehicle plant, which commenced operations last year.

DHS special agent in charge for the region, Steven Schrank, described the operation as the result of a prolonged investigation. He clarified that the detainees were taken into custody for violations including illegal presence in the US, overstaying visas, or using incorrect visas for employment.

Schrank also mentioned that most of the detainees were employed by various tiers of contractors, and investigations are currently focused on understanding the employment chain. Hyundai, in a recent statement, claimed that their current information indicates none of the detainees were directly employed by the company.

The South Korean government responded promptly, expressing “concern and regret” about the arrests. Officials managed to negotiate the release of the South Korean workers and have plans to charter a plane to return them to Korea. As of the latest updates, the workers remain in Georgia.

Many of the detained workers were engineers and equipment installers, states Charles Kuck, an Atlanta-based immigration attorney representing several of them. They were temporary residents in the U.S. with the task of setting up the factory and training U.S. workers on it. The plant’s equipment, designed and manufactured in Korea and Japan, necessitates the presence of overseas workers for installation, as per standard practice, says Kuck.

In 2022, the announcement of the Hyundai factory’s establishment was hailed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp as “the largest economic development project in our state’s history”. Georgia has been actively seeking to become a hub for solar panel, electric vehicle, and battery manufacturing, with its own economic development office in Seoul. The state’s efforts were further supported by then-President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which increased tax credits for electric vehicles, especially for those produced in the U.S.

However, the recent raid could be a setback for these endeavours, believes Andrew Yeo of the Brookings Institution. He suggests that the raid could halt construction at the battery plant and discourage future collaborations with foreign companies, which are crucial for the U.S. clean energy sector.

Other factors, such as tariffs and policy reversals under the Trump administration regarding electric vehicles and renewable energy, have already created uncertainty about the future of firms that have expanded in response to Biden’s incentives.

Yeo also points out existing tensions between Trump’s calls for foreign investment and manufacturing onshoring versus immigration crackdowns. He notes that these issues existed even before the current administration, as Korean companies had previously complained about difficulties in hiring skilled workers rapidly during the manufacturing surge under Biden. U.S. policymakers and foreign companies involved in EV and clean energy production need to address these issues, Yeo says.

WABE’s Marlon Hyde and Emily Wu Pearson also contributed to this report.