5 ms·

Stephen Miller's Quota Likely Drove Korean Arrests in Immigration Raid

91 points by gok 1y ago

cyanydeez 1y ago
Are we all just going to let fascist lubricant flow over clearly defineable facts?
- josefritzishere 1y ago
  Most of us only know knew fascism from history books. But I think the part that has been the most surprising is how stupid it is.
  - Animats 1y ago
    That's a good insight. Inept authoritarianism - the worse of both worlds.
    - toomanyrichies 1y ago
      One could argue that incompetent authoritarianism is better for the country than competent authoritarianism. It's just too bad those are our only choices at the moment.
      - xtiansimon 1y ago
        Practice makes perfect.
      - cyanydeez 1y ago
        One could argue that ineptitude is the lubricant.
  - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
    > the part that has been the most surprising is how stupid it is Read The Wages of Destruction. The Nazis were economically inept. This part of fascism’s history—its incompetence–is often overwritten by stories of gleaming German engineering and Italian timeliness.
    - ethbr1 1y ago
      I'm sure the Volkswagen Ponzi scheme would have ended up fine... /s
  - ReflectedImage 1y ago
    Basically, fascism creates a system where people are promoted based on political loyalty rather than competency. The most loyal people will be the people who lack skill since they only have the position due to the higher ups ensuring loyalty.
  - ethbr1 1y ago
    > But I think the part that has been the most surprising is how stupid [fascism] is. I mean, Mussolini did try to ban pasta in Italy... https://bigthink.com/the-past/pasta-italy-mussolini/ https://bigthink.com/the-past/pasta-italy-mussolini/
- spunker540 1y ago
  What is the fascist lubricant you refer to?
creakingstairs 1y ago
> “There was widespread anger across the political spectrum in South Korea at the behavior of the U.S. authorities" Korean politics (like everywhere else) has gotten incredibly polarised in the last few years, but this incident managed to unite them for a little while before they devolved back to blaming each other as for why this had happened.
retox 1y ago
[dead]
trhway 1y ago
planned economies, rat tails and cobras breeding, lines of code counts, etc. the history is abundant with examples. There is a popular saying in Russia (originated by a famous for his "language skills" Prime-Minister from the 90-ies - Chernomyrdin) - "We have never had such a thing happen, and it has just happened again".
EnPissant 1y ago
[flagged]
- jeffbee 1y ago
  People aren't mad about legitimate exercises of due process initiated by actual law enforcement agents acting within their normal mandates. People are mad that Miller's wannabe-SS abducted a mixed group of U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and visitors with visas, chained them together, and forced them to lick water out of dog bowls.
  - EnPissant 1y ago
    They claim they arrested a group who were violating the terms of their B-1 Visas[1]. Do you disagree with this, and why? [1] A B-1 visa is a U.S. nonimmigrant visa for temporary visits for business.
    - lawlessone 1y ago
      Is Hyundai a business?
    - khuey 1y ago
      > They claim they arrested a group who were violating the terms of their B-1 Visas Has any evidence been presented by the government for this claim?
      - EnPissant 1y ago
        B-1 covers meetings, training, after-sales service. It does not cover productive line work. If that’s what happened, the class mismatches.
        Jtsummers 1y ago
        > B-1 covers meetings, training, after-sales service. It does not cover productive line work. If that’s what happened, the class mismatches. Meetings like one of the men mentioned in the article was in when they arrested him? He wasn't doing "productive line work", whatever that means for a factory that isn't even operating.
Animats 1y ago
The US is way behind in battery technology. This was a badly needed technology transfer into the US. And now it's broken, for at least six months.
- jeffbee 1y ago
  What happens in six months?
  - Jtsummers 1y ago
    It's in the article, that's when they'll resume work on the plant. > According to LG Energy Solution, construction at the plant will remain on hold until the first half of 2026, reported WJCL, delaying by several months when U.S. workers can begin jobs at the facility. ICE took away the workers that were delivering and installing equipment, which introduced delays into the construction process.
    - Animats 1y ago
      That assumes that LG can find workers who want to risk going to the US. The government of South Korea is forming a "task force" with the US embassy in Seoul to try to get visa procedures fixed so this doesn't happen again. "Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said the body will be led by director-level officials, emphasizing that its purpose is to facilitate practical consultations rather than political declarations." The view from the Korean side is worth reading. [1] This may reduce Korean investment in the US.[2] [1] https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/20250916/korea-us-to-form-task-force-on-visa-issues-after-georgia-factory-raid https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/20250916/korea-u... [2] https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/09/south-korea-visas-immigration-us-investment-hyundai-lg?lang=en https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/09/south-korea-v...
      - ModernMech 1y ago
        As if deficient visa procedures were the reason this happened.
FridayoLeary 1y ago
[flagged]
grej 1y ago
In addition to Korea being one of our most important military allies in the world, you need batteries for military drones, and the US is way behind in the development of a domestic manufacturing supply chain for next gen batteries. So now we know clearly that nationalist xenophobia the true most important priority for this administration. Or at least, more important than either the domestic economic interests of their own base or strategic national security interests.
- breadwinner 1y ago
  > nationalist xenophobia the true most important priority for this administration It is a little more complicated than that. It is what around 40% of American population want. (Then another 9.5% or so voted for Trump based on the price of eggs, the fact that the other candidate was a woman, and so on).
  - asdff 1y ago
    40% of the voting population*
    - nobody9999 1y ago
      Actually, it was ~30% of the voting population. According to Wikipedia[0]: Trump/Vance received 77,302,580 votes (49.8% of votes cast) Harris/Walz received 75,017,613 votes (48.3% of votes cast) Total votes cast: 152,320,193. Those in the US eligible to vote[1]: ~250-260 million. 77,302,580/250,000,000 == ~0.3 or 30%. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidentia... [1] https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2020/census-briefs/c2020br-06.pdf https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2020/... [PDF]
      - amalcon 1y ago
        That's worse, though. It implies that 40% of the "electorate" was (in some combination) either prevented from voting or not bothered enough by the difference between plausible electoral outcomes to actually try to influence said outcome.
OutOfHere 1y ago
Good will is the kind of thing that when you lose it once, you never get it back. The Koreans, and various others, will take it to their grave.
tim333 1y ago
Stephen Miller has always seemed a bit freaky and fascist. Here's him last month: >The Democrat [sic] Party does not fight for, care about, or represent American citizens. It is an entity devoted exclusively [his emphasis] to the defense of hardened criminals, gang-bangers, and illegal, alien killers and terrorists. The Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization. Hope they don't try to ban it.
- ethbr1 1y ago
  Stephen Miller is a loathsome human being who's behind a lot of the current administration's excesses. Especially the ones that involve shooting the US in its own proverbial economic foot, for ideological reasons.

91 points by gok 1y ago

cyanydeez 1y ago

Are we all just going to let fascist lubricant flow over clearly defineable facts?

josefritzishere 1y ago
Most of us only know knew fascism from history books. But I think the part that has been the most surprising is how stupid it is.
- Animats 1y ago
  That's a good insight. Inept authoritarianism - the worse of both worlds.
  - toomanyrichies 1y ago
    One could argue that incompetent authoritarianism is better for the country than competent authoritarianism. It's just too bad those are our only choices at the moment.
    - xtiansimon 1y ago
      Practice makes perfect.
    - cyanydeez 1y ago
      One could argue that ineptitude is the lubricant.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > the part that has been the most surprising is how stupid it is Read The Wages of Destruction. The Nazis were economically inept. This part of fascism’s history—its incompetence–is often overwritten by stories of gleaming German engineering and Italian timeliness.
  - ethbr1 1y ago
    I'm sure the Volkswagen Ponzi scheme would have ended up fine... /s
- ReflectedImage 1y ago
  Basically, fascism creates a system where people are promoted based on political loyalty rather than competency. The most loyal people will be the people who lack skill since they only have the position due to the higher ups ensuring loyalty.
- ethbr1 1y ago
  > But I think the part that has been the most surprising is how stupid [fascism] is. I mean, Mussolini did try to ban pasta in Italy... https://bigthink.com/the-past/pasta-italy-mussolini/ https://bigthink.com/the-past/pasta-italy-mussolini/
spunker540 1y ago
What is the fascist lubricant you refer to?

creakingstairs 1y ago

> “There was widespread anger across the political spectrum in South Korea at the behavior of the U.S. authorities" Korean politics (like everywhere else) has gotten incredibly polarised in the last few years, but this incident managed to unite them for a little while before they devolved back to blaming each other as for why this had happened.

retox 1y ago

[dead]

trhway 1y ago

planned economies, rat tails and cobras breeding, lines of code counts, etc. the history is abundant with examples. There is a popular saying in Russia (originated by a famous for his "language skills" Prime-Minister from the 90-ies - Chernomyrdin) - "We have never had such a thing happen, and it has just happened again".

EnPissant 1y ago

[flagged]

jeffbee 1y ago
People aren't mad about legitimate exercises of due process initiated by actual law enforcement agents acting within their normal mandates. People are mad that Miller's wannabe-SS abducted a mixed group of U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and visitors with visas, chained them together, and forced them to lick water out of dog bowls.
- EnPissant 1y ago
  They claim they arrested a group who were violating the terms of their B-1 Visas[1]. Do you disagree with this, and why? [1] A B-1 visa is a U.S. nonimmigrant visa for temporary visits for business.
  - lawlessone 1y ago
    Is Hyundai a business?
  - khuey 1y ago
    > They claim they arrested a group who were violating the terms of their B-1 Visas Has any evidence been presented by the government for this claim?
    - EnPissant 1y ago
      B-1 covers meetings, training, after-sales service. It does not cover productive line work. If that’s what happened, the class mismatches.
      - Jtsummers 1y ago
        > B-1 covers meetings, training, after-sales service. It does not cover productive line work. If that’s what happened, the class mismatches. Meetings like one of the men mentioned in the article was in when they arrested him? He wasn't doing "productive line work", whatever that means for a factory that isn't even operating.

Animats 1y ago

The US is way behind in battery technology. This was a badly needed technology transfer into the US. And now it's broken, for at least six months.

jeffbee 1y ago
What happens in six months?
- Jtsummers 1y ago
  It's in the article, that's when they'll resume work on the plant. > According to LG Energy Solution, construction at the plant will remain on hold until the first half of 2026, reported WJCL, delaying by several months when U.S. workers can begin jobs at the facility. ICE took away the workers that were delivering and installing equipment, which introduced delays into the construction process.
  - Animats 1y ago
    That assumes that LG can find workers who want to risk going to the US. The government of South Korea is forming a "task force" with the US embassy in Seoul to try to get visa procedures fixed so this doesn't happen again. "Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said the body will be led by director-level officials, emphasizing that its purpose is to facilitate practical consultations rather than political declarations." The view from the Korean side is worth reading. [1] This may reduce Korean investment in the US.[2] [1] https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/20250916/korea-us-to-form-task-force-on-visa-issues-after-georgia-factory-raid https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/20250916/korea-u... [2] https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/09/south-korea-visas-immigration-us-investment-hyundai-lg?lang=en https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/09/south-korea-v...
    - ModernMech 1y ago
      As if deficient visa procedures were the reason this happened.

FridayoLeary 1y ago

[flagged]

grej 1y ago

In addition to Korea being one of our most important military allies in the world, you need batteries for military drones, and the US is way behind in the development of a domestic manufacturing supply chain for next gen batteries. So now we know clearly that nationalist xenophobia the true most important priority for this administration. Or at least, more important than either the domestic economic interests of their own base or strategic national security interests.

breadwinner 1y ago
> nationalist xenophobia the true most important priority for this administration It is a little more complicated than that. It is what around 40% of American population want. (Then another 9.5% or so voted for Trump based on the price of eggs, the fact that the other candidate was a woman, and so on).
- asdff 1y ago
  40% of the voting population*
  - nobody9999 1y ago
    Actually, it was ~30% of the voting population. According to Wikipedia[0]: Trump/Vance received 77,302,580 votes (49.8% of votes cast) Harris/Walz received 75,017,613 votes (48.3% of votes cast) Total votes cast: 152,320,193. Those in the US eligible to vote[1]: ~250-260 million. 77,302,580/250,000,000 == ~0.3 or 30%. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidentia... [1] https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2020/census-briefs/c2020br-06.pdf https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2020/... [PDF]
    - amalcon 1y ago
      That's worse, though. It implies that 40% of the "electorate" was (in some combination) either prevented from voting or not bothered enough by the difference between plausible electoral outcomes to actually try to influence said outcome.

OutOfHere 1y ago

Good will is the kind of thing that when you lose it once, you never get it back. The Koreans, and various others, will take it to their grave.

tim333 1y ago

Stephen Miller has always seemed a bit freaky and fascist. Here's him last month: >The Democrat [sic] Party does not fight for, care about, or represent American citizens. It is an entity devoted exclusively [his emphasis] to the defense of hardened criminals, gang-bangers, and illegal, alien killers and terrorists. The Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization. Hope they don't try to ban it.

ethbr1 1y ago
Stephen Miller is a loathsome human being who's behind a lot of the current administration's excesses. Especially the ones that involve shooting the US in its own proverbial economic foot, for ideological reasons.