Hyundai CEO says ICE raid was 'bad surprise,' will not alter company’s U.S. expansion plans

article

Jose Munoz, chief executive officer of Hyundai Motor Co., at the Semafor World Economy Summit during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Photographer: Kent Nishimur

Expand

Hyundai’s top executive says the recent immigration raid at a south Georgia battery site was a "bad surprise" but will not alter the company’s long-term plans in the United States, even as the fallout continues in Washington, Atlanta and Seoul.

Hyundai CEO on ICE raid at plant

What they're saying:

Hyundai Motor Co. President and CEO José Muñoz spoke about the incident during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, stressing that the operation targeted an LG-run battery facility where Hyundai is a shareholder, not Hyundai’s own assembly plant.

"So that was, a bad surprise," Muñoz said. "It was an LG plant, and then we are shareholders, but it was a separate plant from the assembly plant."

Muñoz said he was contacted by both the White House and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp as questions mounted about why federal agents carried out the raid and whether it had been coordinated.

"I got a phone call from the White House apologizing for what happened," he said, adding that Washington officials "were not aware" the action would unfold as it did. He said Kemp told him, "This is not the state jurisdiction."

Muñoz also rejected the suggestion that the detained workers were in the country unlawfully.

"Apparently somebody made a phone call and that made it look like there were illegal immigrants. That’s absolutely not the case," he said.

The raid could delay work at the site by "2 or 3 months," he said, but Hyundai’s U.S. strategy remains unchanged, including its $12.6 billion Savannah-area project.

"We cannot just simply because something happened which is obviously an accident, say this is going to change our plan," Muñoz said. "On the contrary, I said we double down."

He added that Hyundai is adjusting its product lineup at the site to mix electric vehicles with hybrids and fuel-cell models in response to shifting demand.

Trump on battery factory raid

The other side:

Former President Donald Trump addressed the raid separately, telling business leaders that highly specialized foreign workers are essential to launching complex manufacturing projects, including the Georgia battery site.

"We had one case in Georgia where a battery factory… spent a billion dollars to build a factory, and they were told to get out," Trump said. "And I said, ‘Stop it. Don’t be stupid.’ And we worked it out."

Trump argued that companies building advanced chip and battery plants cannot hire workers "off an unemployment line" and expect them to run multibillion-dollar operations.

"They’re going to have to bring thousands of people with them. And I’m going to welcome those people," he said, adding that those specialists would train American workers and eventually return home.

Battery plant ICE raid in south Georgia

The backstory:

Federal agents arrested 475 foreign workers during a Sept. 4 immigration raid at Hyundai’s south Georgia battery-plant construction site, one of the largest enforcement operations tied to an international manufacturing project in the state. Many of those detained were South Korean nationals working on temporary visas. South Korea arranged flights to bring more than 300 workers home, though travel plans shifted several times. Concerns grew that the raid could delay construction, but Hyundai later announced a multibillion dollar expansion of the project. Detained workers also reported poor conditions after the operation. The raid became a central point of discussion for Gov Brian Kemp’s fall trip to South Korea.