6 ms·

Hyundai is now delaying its EV battery plant that was raided by ICE

85 points by buyucu 1y ago

secult 1y ago
That's quite an insult! I wonder how many foreign workers (or foreigners in general) take the eventuality of getting "randomly" detained into account while travelling into USA.
- eastbound 1y ago
  I do. Never been to US since the Patriot act, a have a several-million dollars small startup and would love to see Colorado and California, why not move there, but I’m just afraid of TSA. On the other hand, I envy USA for enforcing their visas. Europe follows American criminality stats by 10 years, so when we used to mock USA for George Floyd, we’re now in it; for Korean shop owners, we’re now in it; For random knives in busses, we’re in it, and with school shootings, it’s just a matter of time until it happens. And European people are much farther away from reaching the conclusion that law must be enforced in multicultural nations.
  - 4ggr0 1y ago
    > that law must be enforced in multicultural nations per usual it's the other cultures causing the fuss, right.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - eastbound 1y ago
      Criminals get defended against the enforcement of the law, I see.
      - 4ggr0 1y ago
        What I see is someone attributing crime to cultures.
  - pjc50 1y ago
    > mock USA for George Floyd Crime committed by the police. > Korean shop owners What's criminal about Korean shops? > school shootings Gun control means no more school shootings. See Dunblane. > law must be enforced in multicultural nations Nobody ever said it shouldn't, but it has to be enforced in a fair and even-handed way.
    - dspillett 1y ago
      > > school shootings > Gun control means no more school shootings. See Dunblane. If you are citing Dunblane as an example of gun control not working, perhaps consider the fact that you had to go back to 1996 to find such a bad example in a country with strong controls means that while it doesn't work 100% it does work really rather well. To find a similar example (>20 dead or injured in a school or related environment) in the US you'd to go all the way back into the mists of time to… August. Before that the last large school shooting was Uvale in 2022, still only three years not 29.
      - happymellon 1y ago
        > If you are citing Dunblane as an example of gun control not working I don't see how you read that at all. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre There was a school shooting, and we restricted gun access. An example of failure of those laws stopping any and all would have been the 2010 Cumbria shootings. But they are still few and far between.
      - pjc50 1y ago
        > If you are citing Dunblane as an example of gun control not working No, the opposite. An example of the policy response working. The tragedy was met with universal revulsion and tightening of gun control. There were a few complaints that the tightening was a bit much, but there wasn't a significant faction of people who said that a few dead schoolchildren were a necessary sacrifice for their gun "rights". (School shootings seem to be a post-cold-war phenomenon. Dunblane was 1996; Columbine was 1999)
    - lesser-shadow 1y ago
- sandworm101 1y ago
  >> the eventuality of getting "randomly" detained into account while travelling into USA. Absolutely every canadian crossing at a land border. The steady number of horror stories is keeping them away. (Air travel is less impacted as canadian pre-clearance proceedures mean anyone rejected by ICE will not also be detained by them.)
  - ThePowerOfFuet 1y ago
    Preclearance only happens at one Canadian airport, AFAIK.
    - gnabgib 1y ago
      Preclearance is at all the major airports https://www.cbp.gov/travel/preclearance https://www.cbp.gov/travel/preclearance (strange airport name in Ireland)
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- krageon 1y ago
  Anyone even remotely educated takes it into account, although most people have a low estimation of the actual risk
- fjfaase 1y ago
  As someone from Europe (the Netherlands), it is an important reason for me to no longer consider to travel to the USA. The idea of the possibility to be deported to a prison facility in South America or Africa, with no due process is simply terrifying. I would strongly advice any fellow countrymen not to travel to the USA, especially if they are not 'pure' white. There are many Dutch with Dutch parents that are not 'pure' white, because they have a Chinese, an Indonesian, a Caribbean, an Italian, a Spanish, a Moroccan, or a Turkish ancestor (to mention just some possibilities).
- dotnet00 1y ago
  It's definitely a growing concern, coworkers visiting their home countries have been half-jokingly saying "see you in X weeks, assuming everything goes fine at the border" and even US citizens and permanent residents are being strongly encouraged to plan out contingencies (remote work, what to say to maybe be able to contact the immigration attorney if detained etc) with the company before leaving, just in case.
Humorist2290 1y ago
I still don't really understand this story. I know that ICE invaded the factory and detained a few hundred people. They were vanished away and presumably being speedily sent back to Korea. Sure. But every article I've read on this makes no statement about whether any of these hundreds of people were actually working without an appropriate visa, or whether they were given the chance to demonstrate their legitimacy, or whether any of these hundreds of people got to defend their case to a judge. Shouting "I'm here legally" while being rounded up by LEOs is not due process. I'm not particularly sympathetic to Hyundai here, and it wouldn't be surprising if they subcontracted a sublegal operation to cut costs. But in a group of a few hundred people it's quite hard to imagine none of them have cases even worth hearing.
- ChrisRR 1y ago
  Maybe the news reporters don't actually know whether they were there illegally
- aeonfox 1y ago
  > Most of the people detained were South Korean nationals with the wrong kind of visas. https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/09/10/the-ice-raid-at-hyundai-was-a-massive-own-goal https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/09/10/the-ice-r... > I'm not particularly sympathetic to Hyundai here, and it wouldn't be surprising if they subcontracted a sublegal operation to cut costs Often Visa systems are overly complex and it's just a matter of bureaucracy making things impossible within a particular timeline. My cynical lens on this is that someone with a vested interest (like a competing company or a lobbyist from a competing industry) that has the ear of the administration has made this happen. All the same, I imagine this only worsens the risk assessment for the US as a place of investment and business.
  - vkou 1y ago
    > My cynical lens on this is that someone with a vested interest (like a competing company or a lobbyist from a competing industry) that has the ear of the administration has made this happen. You don't need to go that far. Simple incompetence, cruelty, a complete lack of accountability and a need to meet quota is a sufficient explanation.
ourworldintech 1y ago
[dead]
uxcolumbo 1y ago
Tori Branum, a MAGA candidate, was giving the tip off. Totally hurting her community. <https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/meet-the-woman-claiming-to-be-tipster-behind- hyundai-factory-raid-that-sparked-international-fallout/ar-AA1Me4Co https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/meet-the-woman-claiming-to...> They were looking for 4 latinos, but then decided to arrest almost 500 workers, most of them Koreans - highly skilled technicians. And the pictures of them being shackled in full body chains as if they were dangerous criminals is absolutely insulting and degrading. This is not how you attract investment.
- mayankkaizen 1y ago
  The link you referenced points to error page.
  - uxcolumbo 1y ago
    HN was breaking it as it was too long I think. Should be fixed now. Wrapped it in brackets <>.
OutOfHere 1y ago
Specifically targeting an EV battery plant is so obviously politically corrupt in favor of the fossil fuel industry.
jleyank 1y ago
I think Korea has been asking for something like the temporary nafta/USMCA visa that lets people in approved specialties work in neighbouring countries on a temporary basis.

85 points by buyucu 1y ago

That's quite an insult! I wonder how many foreign workers (or foreigners in general) take the eventuality of getting "randomly" detained into account while travelling into USA.

eastbound 1y ago
I do. Never been to US since the Patriot act, a have a several-million dollars small startup and would love to see Colorado and California, why not move there, but I’m just afraid of TSA. On the other hand, I envy USA for enforcing their visas. Europe follows American criminality stats by 10 years, so when we used to mock USA for George Floyd, we’re now in it; for Korean shop owners, we’re now in it; For random knives in busses, we’re in it, and with school shootings, it’s just a matter of time until it happens. And European people are much farther away from reaching the conclusion that law must be enforced in multicultural nations.
- 4ggr0 1y ago
  > that law must be enforced in multicultural nations per usual it's the other cultures causing the fuss, right.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - eastbound 1y ago
    Criminals get defended against the enforcement of the law, I see.
    - 4ggr0 1y ago
      What I see is someone attributing crime to cultures.
- pjc50 1y ago
  > mock USA for George Floyd Crime committed by the police. > Korean shop owners What's criminal about Korean shops? > school shootings Gun control means no more school shootings. See Dunblane. > law must be enforced in multicultural nations Nobody ever said it shouldn't, but it has to be enforced in a fair and even-handed way.
  - dspillett 1y ago
    > > school shootings > Gun control means no more school shootings. See Dunblane. If you are citing Dunblane as an example of gun control not working, perhaps consider the fact that you had to go back to 1996 to find such a bad example in a country with strong controls means that while it doesn't work 100% it does work really rather well. To find a similar example (>20 dead or injured in a school or related environment) in the US you'd to go all the way back into the mists of time to… August. Before that the last large school shooting was Uvale in 2022, still only three years not 29.
    - happymellon 1y ago
      > If you are citing Dunblane as an example of gun control not working I don't see how you read that at all. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre There was a school shooting, and we restricted gun access. An example of failure of those laws stopping any and all would have been the 2010 Cumbria shootings. But they are still few and far between.
    - pjc50 1y ago
      > If you are citing Dunblane as an example of gun control not working No, the opposite. An example of the policy response working. The tragedy was met with universal revulsion and tightening of gun control. There were a few complaints that the tightening was a bit much, but there wasn't a significant faction of people who said that a few dead schoolchildren were a necessary sacrifice for their gun "rights". (School shootings seem to be a post-cold-war phenomenon. Dunblane was 1996; Columbine was 1999)
  - lesser-shadow 1y ago
sandworm101 1y ago
>> the eventuality of getting "randomly" detained into account while travelling into USA. Absolutely every canadian crossing at a land border. The steady number of horror stories is keeping them away. (Air travel is less impacted as canadian pre-clearance proceedures mean anyone rejected by ICE will not also be detained by them.)
- ThePowerOfFuet 1y ago
  Preclearance only happens at one Canadian airport, AFAIK.
  - gnabgib 1y ago
    Preclearance is at all the major airports https://www.cbp.gov/travel/preclearance https://www.cbp.gov/travel/preclearance (strange airport name in Ireland)
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
krageon 1y ago
Anyone even remotely educated takes it into account, although most people have a low estimation of the actual risk
fjfaase 1y ago
As someone from Europe (the Netherlands), it is an important reason for me to no longer consider to travel to the USA. The idea of the possibility to be deported to a prison facility in South America or Africa, with no due process is simply terrifying. I would strongly advice any fellow countrymen not to travel to the USA, especially if they are not 'pure' white. There are many Dutch with Dutch parents that are not 'pure' white, because they have a Chinese, an Indonesian, a Caribbean, an Italian, a Spanish, a Moroccan, or a Turkish ancestor (to mention just some possibilities).
dotnet00 1y ago
It's definitely a growing concern, coworkers visiting their home countries have been half-jokingly saying "see you in X weeks, assuming everything goes fine at the border" and even US citizens and permanent residents are being strongly encouraged to plan out contingencies (remote work, what to say to maybe be able to contact the immigration attorney if detained etc) with the company before leaving, just in case.

Humorist2290 1y ago

I still don't really understand this story. I know that ICE invaded the factory and detained a few hundred people. They were vanished away and presumably being speedily sent back to Korea. Sure. But every article I've read on this makes no statement about whether any of these hundreds of people were actually working without an appropriate visa, or whether they were given the chance to demonstrate their legitimacy, or whether any of these hundreds of people got to defend their case to a judge. Shouting "I'm here legally" while being rounded up by LEOs is not due process. I'm not particularly sympathetic to Hyundai here, and it wouldn't be surprising if they subcontracted a sublegal operation to cut costs. But in a group of a few hundred people it's quite hard to imagine none of them have cases even worth hearing.

ChrisRR 1y ago
Maybe the news reporters don't actually know whether they were there illegally
aeonfox 1y ago
> Most of the people detained were South Korean nationals with the wrong kind of visas. https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/09/10/the-ice-raid-at-hyundai-was-a-massive-own-goal https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/09/10/the-ice-r... > I'm not particularly sympathetic to Hyundai here, and it wouldn't be surprising if they subcontracted a sublegal operation to cut costs Often Visa systems are overly complex and it's just a matter of bureaucracy making things impossible within a particular timeline. My cynical lens on this is that someone with a vested interest (like a competing company or a lobbyist from a competing industry) that has the ear of the administration has made this happen. All the same, I imagine this only worsens the risk assessment for the US as a place of investment and business.
- vkou 1y ago
  > My cynical lens on this is that someone with a vested interest (like a competing company or a lobbyist from a competing industry) that has the ear of the administration has made this happen. You don't need to go that far. Simple incompetence, cruelty, a complete lack of accountability and a need to meet quota is a sufficient explanation.

ourworldintech 1y ago

[dead]

uxcolumbo 1y ago

Tori Branum, a MAGA candidate, was giving the tip off. Totally hurting her community. <https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/meet-the-woman-claiming-to-be-tipster-behind- hyundai-factory-raid-that-sparked-international-fallout/ar-AA1Me4Co https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/meet-the-woman-claiming-to...> They were looking for 4 latinos, but then decided to arrest almost 500 workers, most of them Koreans - highly skilled technicians. And the pictures of them being shackled in full body chains as if they were dangerous criminals is absolutely insulting and degrading. This is not how you attract investment.

mayankkaizen 1y ago
The link you referenced points to error page.
- uxcolumbo 1y ago
  HN was breaking it as it was too long I think. Should be fixed now. Wrapped it in brackets <>.

OutOfHere 1y ago

Specifically targeting an EV battery plant is so obviously politically corrupt in favor of the fossil fuel industry.

jleyank 1y ago

I think Korea has been asking for something like the temporary nafta/USMCA visa that lets people in approved specialties work in neighbouring countries on a temporary basis.