Hyundai CEO admits immigration probe may delay Georgia battery production for months
On Friday, José Muñoz, the Chief Executive Officer of Hyundai Motor, made an announcement that the battery factory of the firm, which is located in Georgia, United States, will be unable to begin operations for a period of two to three months. This decision was made owing to an immigration raid that took place the previous week. “For the construction phase of the plants, you need to get specialized people.
There are a lot of skills and equipment that you cannot find in the United States,” Munoz stated in his first public statement since the raid. “There are a lot of things that you cannot find in the homeland.” The factory, which is one of the main industrial sites that South Korean corporations are now developing in the United States, was supposed to begin operations later on in this year. Munoz indicated that Hyundai will acquire batteries from alternate facilities, including a factory in Georgia that is co-owned with the Korean battery maker SK On. This is in light of the fact that the delay has already been implemented. Around 475 personnel, including more than 300 South Koreans, were taken into custody as a consequence of the operation that was carried out by the United States Department of Homeland Security.
The battery factory that was jointly operated by Hyundai and LG Energy Solutions was the location where the operation was carried out. According to a report, which cites officials from the United States, some of the Korean workers who were held had entered the United States illegally, while others had arrived lawfully but were discovered to have visas that had expired or had entered on visa exemptions that banned them from working. The majority of the personnel who were part in the raid were hired by LG’s suppliers, as Munoz pointed out, and he indicated that the news of the raid was “surprising” for him. As a result of a deal reached between the government of South Korea and the United States, more than three hundred workers were eventually released and transferred to Seoul by means of a charter jet on Friday.
While Washington is encouraging Seoul to increase its industrial investments, South Korea has been pressing the United States to improve its visa requirements for qualified Korean workers. It is also encouraging Seoul to expand its industrial investments. According to a report, Korean businesses largely rely on short-term visitor visas or the Electronic System for Travel Authorization in order to deploy staff for the purpose of constructing and beginning manufacturing facilities.
