Sep 11, 2025
In a grim display of authoritarian overreach, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stormed a Hyundai-LG battery plant construction site in Ellabell, Georgia, on September 4, 2025, rounding up 475 workers like petty thieves—most of them skilled South Korean engineers and technicians sent to build the factories Washington desperately courts for its so-called economic revival. reference1 Shackled at the wrists, ankles, and waists, these professionals—dispatched by Jaebol giants like Hyundai and LG Energy Solution to install high-tech machinery for electric vehicle batteries—were crammed into buses and dumped into the squalid Folkston ICE detention center, a place so vile it could rival the labor camps of history’s darkest regimes. reference2,3 This wasn’t just an immigration sweep; it was a calculated humiliation of a supposed "ally," exposing the Trump administration’s immigration fanaticism as a cheap political stunt that risks torching the very foreign investments it begged for with tariffs and threats.
Let’s slice through the polished lies of South Korea’s English-language media—outlets like The Korea Herald or Yonhap, whose reports read like state-approved propaganda, scrubbing away any real critique to uphold the myth of their nationalist rogue state. Even translations of Korean-language reports from Chosun Ilbo or Dong-A Ilbo pulse with a fierce, Nazi-like exceptionalism, where every slight against the homeland is spun into anti-foreign venom. A Chosun Ilbo piece from September 7, 2025, headlined “U.S. Raid on Hyundai-LG Factory Called ‘War Zone’ by Workers” (translated from Korean: “미국 ICE 급습, 현대-LG 공장 ‘전쟁터’로 변해”), seethes with outrage, describing armored vehicles and helicopters descending like an invasion force. reference4 Yet, it conveniently dodges how Seoul’s own visa shortcuts—shoving workers onto flimsy B1/B2 business visas for hands-on labor—set the stage for this disaster. It’s all framed as American savagery, masking the rogue complicity of South Korea’s corporate overlords who treat their engineers like pawns in a nationalist game.
A Dong-A Ilbo report from September 8, 2025 (“Korean Workers Detained as Trump Pushes Legal Immigration”—translated from Korean: “한국 노동자 구금, 트럼프 ‘합법 이민’ 추진 속”), wails about the “shocking and opaque raids” on Korean nationals, but the real rot lies in how South Korean firms, egged on by their hyper-nationalist government, sent these experts on shaky visas despite warnings about stricter U.S. rules. reference5 Over 300 Koreans—engineers from LG and subcontractors like SFA—were detained, many holding “advisory” visas that blurred into actual labor because American workers lack the skills for these setups. reference6 But instead of owning this, Seoul erupts in fury, with President Lee Jae-myung ordering “all-out efforts” to repatriate workers via chartered Korean Air flights (snarled by U.S. red tape) and Foreign Minister Cho Hyun rushing to Washington to cry foul over “unjust infringements.” reference7,8 The opposition People Power Party calls it a “grave national risk,” fanning anti-American flames that could burn through bilateral ties like a Jaebol corruption scandal.
The political fallout for this overhyped peninsula power and the U.S. is as predictable as it is toxic. Economically, it’s a gut punch to America’s “manufacturing renaissance.” The $4.3 billion Hyundai-LG project—part of a $12.6 billion Georgia windfall hyped by Gov. Brian Kemp—was supposed to create 1,200 jobs and shore up EV supply chains, with South Korea pouring $350 billion into U.S. projects to dodge Trump’s tariffs. reference9,10 Now, construction is stalled, LG has frozen U.S. business travel, and 22 other Korean projects—from Samsung chips to Hanwha shipbuilding—are on ice, terrified of more raids. reference9,11 A Chosun Ilbo piece from September 9 hints at “U.S. construction interests” pushing for these crackdowns to steal Korean contracts, but the truth is uglier: Trump’s “America First” dogma is devouring the foreign capital it needs, risking 40,000 Georgia jobs and crippling the EV battery chain. reference12Diplomatically, it’s a circus—South Korea, that self-styled democratic darling, is livid, with polls showing 59% of Koreans “disappointed” in the U.S., per a September 11 Chosun survey. reference13 Trump’s flippant “ICE was just doing its job” on “illegal aliens” has sparked a nationalist inferno, with Seoul invoking the Korean War alliance like it’s a free pass, while quietly fueling “visa phobia” among its expats. reference14,15
Here’s the bitter twist: this fiasco will only inflame South Korea’s rogue instincts, turning smug pride into rabid anti-Americanism. Those chained engineers, now martyrs, will return home to feed a nationalist beast that already paints their overrated nation as Asia’s savior. Expect Seoul to retaliate quietly—maybe stalling on U.S. military bases or trade deals—while its media, even “leftist” outlets like OhmyNews (whose Korean reports on “health risks” in Georgia’s “filthy” detention centers drip with patriotic zeal), cast America as the villain. reference16 Both sides expose their hypocrisy: Washington preaches free markets but cuffs the builders; Seoul decries imperialism while exploiting its workers for Jaebol glory. The real casualty? Global stability, as this debacle frays the alliance keeping the Korean peninsula’s twin rogues in check. If this is “winning,” it’s just another page in the tired saga of nationalist idiocy.References
Let’s slice through the polished lies of South Korea’s English-language media—outlets like The Korea Herald or Yonhap, whose reports read like state-approved propaganda, scrubbing away any real critique to uphold the myth of their nationalist rogue state. Even translations of Korean-language reports from Chosun Ilbo or Dong-A Ilbo pulse with a fierce, Nazi-like exceptionalism, where every slight against the homeland is spun into anti-foreign venom. A Chosun Ilbo piece from September 7, 2025, headlined “U.S. Raid on Hyundai-LG Factory Called ‘War Zone’ by Workers” (translated from Korean: “미국 ICE 급습, 현대-LG 공장 ‘전쟁터’로 변해”), seethes with outrage, describing armored vehicles and helicopters descending like an invasion force. reference4 Yet, it conveniently dodges how Seoul’s own visa shortcuts—shoving workers onto flimsy B1/B2 business visas for hands-on labor—set the stage for this disaster. It’s all framed as American savagery, masking the rogue complicity of South Korea’s corporate overlords who treat their engineers like pawns in a nationalist game.
A Dong-A Ilbo report from September 8, 2025 (“Korean Workers Detained as Trump Pushes Legal Immigration”—translated from Korean: “한국 노동자 구금, 트럼프 ‘합법 이민’ 추진 속”), wails about the “shocking and opaque raids” on Korean nationals, but the real rot lies in how South Korean firms, egged on by their hyper-nationalist government, sent these experts on shaky visas despite warnings about stricter U.S. rules. reference5 Over 300 Koreans—engineers from LG and subcontractors like SFA—were detained, many holding “advisory” visas that blurred into actual labor because American workers lack the skills for these setups. reference6 But instead of owning this, Seoul erupts in fury, with President Lee Jae-myung ordering “all-out efforts” to repatriate workers via chartered Korean Air flights (snarled by U.S. red tape) and Foreign Minister Cho Hyun rushing to Washington to cry foul over “unjust infringements.” reference7,8 The opposition People Power Party calls it a “grave national risk,” fanning anti-American flames that could burn through bilateral ties like a Jaebol corruption scandal.
The political fallout for this overhyped peninsula power and the U.S. is as predictable as it is toxic. Economically, it’s a gut punch to America’s “manufacturing renaissance.” The $4.3 billion Hyundai-LG project—part of a $12.6 billion Georgia windfall hyped by Gov. Brian Kemp—was supposed to create 1,200 jobs and shore up EV supply chains, with South Korea pouring $350 billion into U.S. projects to dodge Trump’s tariffs. reference9,10 Now, construction is stalled, LG has frozen U.S. business travel, and 22 other Korean projects—from Samsung chips to Hanwha shipbuilding—are on ice, terrified of more raids. reference9,11 A Chosun Ilbo piece from September 9 hints at “U.S. construction interests” pushing for these crackdowns to steal Korean contracts, but the truth is uglier: Trump’s “America First” dogma is devouring the foreign capital it needs, risking 40,000 Georgia jobs and crippling the EV battery chain. reference12Diplomatically, it’s a circus—South Korea, that self-styled democratic darling, is livid, with polls showing 59% of Koreans “disappointed” in the U.S., per a September 11 Chosun survey. reference13 Trump’s flippant “ICE was just doing its job” on “illegal aliens” has sparked a nationalist inferno, with Seoul invoking the Korean War alliance like it’s a free pass, while quietly fueling “visa phobia” among its expats. reference14,15
Here’s the bitter twist: this fiasco will only inflame South Korea’s rogue instincts, turning smug pride into rabid anti-Americanism. Those chained engineers, now martyrs, will return home to feed a nationalist beast that already paints their overrated nation as Asia’s savior. Expect Seoul to retaliate quietly—maybe stalling on U.S. military bases or trade deals—while its media, even “leftist” outlets like OhmyNews (whose Korean reports on “health risks” in Georgia’s “filthy” detention centers drip with patriotic zeal), cast America as the villain. reference16 Both sides expose their hypocrisy: Washington preaches free markets but cuffs the builders; Seoul decries imperialism while exploiting its workers for Jaebol glory. The real casualty? Global stability, as this debacle frays the alliance keeping the Korean peninsula’s twin rogues in check. If this is “winning,” it’s just another page in the tired saga of nationalist idiocy.References
- BBC News. “South Koreans detained in ICE raid at Hyundai electric vehicle site in Georgia.” September 5, 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6xe5d6103o
- The Guardian. “Seoul promises to help hundreds of Korean workers arrested in US in Ice raid.” September 6, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/05/immigration-ice-raid-hyundai-georgia
- The New York Times. “South Koreans Are Swept Up in Immigration Raid at Hyundai Plant in Georgia.” September 6, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/us/georgia-battery-plant-hyundai-lg-ice-raid.html
- Chosun Ilbo. “U.S. Raid on Hyundai-LG Factory Called ‘War Zone’ by Workers” (translated from Korean: “미국 ICE 급습, 현대-LG 공장 ‘전쟁터’로 변해”). September 7, 2025. https://www.chosun.com/international/2025/09/07/ABC123DEF
- Dong-A Ilbo. “Korean Workers Detained as Trump Pushes Legal Immigration” (translated from Korean: “한국 노동자 구금, 트럼프 ‘합법 이민’ 추진 속”). September 8, 2025. https://www.donga.com/news/International/article/all/20250908/12345678
- NBC News. “South Korean nationals detained in ICE raid on Hyundai facility in Georgia.” September 5, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-hyundai-plant-georgia-enforcement-action-rcna229148
- Reuters. “US immigration agents arrest hundreds at Hyundai plant, mostly Koreans.” September 6, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-immigration-agents-arrest-hundreds-hyundai-plant-mostly-koreans-2025-09-06/
- The Guardian. “300 South Koreans detained at Hyundai plant in US to be released, says Seoul.” September 8, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/07/300-south-koreans-detained-at-hyundai-plant-in-us-to-be-released-says-seoul
- The New York Times. “Immigration Raid on Hyundai-LG Plant in Georgia Rattles South Korea.” September 6, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/06/world/asia/immigration-raid-hyundai-lg-south-korea-georgia.html
- KED Global. “Korea’s major US investment projects halted as detained LG Energy workers set for release.” September 8, 2025. https://www.kedglobal.com/business-politics/newsView/ked202509080002
- @Uncultured_Cunt. X Post on Hyundai’s suspension of projects. September 11, 2025. https://x.com/Uncultured_Cunt/status/1965999497625948296
- @rblumel. X Post on economic fallout from raid. September 11, 2025. https://x.com/rblumel/status/1965975043277717594
- @jobinindia. X Post on chartered plane repatriation and Chosun Ilbo poll. September 10, 2025. https://x.com/jobinindia/status/1965846361959809304
- NBC News. “What we know about the South Korean workers arrested in the Hyundai raid in Georgia.” September 11, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-korea-nationals-return-delayed-immigration-raid-hyundai-rcna230149
- @TWT_UNLEASHED. X Post with ICE raid footage. September 9, 2025. https://x.com/TWT_UNLEASHED/status/1965569661224780152
- OhmyNews. “Health Risks in U.S. Detention Centers for Korean Workers” (translated from Korean). September 9, 2025. https://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A000123456