Hyundai CEO: White House apologized for raid on Georgia battery factory
A White House official telephoned Hyundai Motor Co. Chief Executive José Muñoz to apologize for the September immigration raid at the South Korean company’s electric vehicle manufacturing campus near Savannah, Muñoz said Wednesday.
Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, Muñoz said the unnamed official told him he or she was “not aware” and “didn’t know” about the Georgia raid. Dubbed Operation Low Voltage, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement action led to the detention and repatriation of 317 South Korean nationals who had been installing machinery at HL-GA Battery adjacent to Hyundai’s assembly facility.
Those workers, described by battery plant operator LG Energy Solution as “subject matter experts,” were accused of being in the United States on expired or ineligible visas.
The message from the White House official was “President Trump didn’t want those workers to go back to Korea,” according to Muñoz.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked the White House press office to confirm the call’s details. A spokesperson pointed to Trump’s remarks Wednesday at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, D.C., where Trump addressed the ICE raid and said he had not wanted the Korean technicians to leave the country. But Trump made no mention of communications between him or administration officials and Munoz.
“We had one case in Georgia, a battery factory. Batteries are very dangerous to make, very complex. They spent a billion dollars to build the factory and they were told to get out,” Trump said. “I said ‘Stop it. Don’t be stupid.’ And we worked it out.”
Trump also Wednesday repeated his call for an embrace of foreign-born, highly skilled workers in situations such as setting up the HL-GA Battery factory.
“Those people are going to teach our people how to do it and in a short period of time our people are going to be doing great and those people can go home,” Trump said.
Trump made a similar statement a week ago in a Fox News interview. “You’re going to need that” from South Koreans who have “made batteries all their lives,” Trump said.
During the Bloomberg event, an annual gathering where business leaders discuss economic transformation in growth markets, Muñoz said he also received a postraid telephone call from Gov. Brian Kemp. The governor told Muñoz he didn’t know about the ICE operation and that it was conducted outside state jurisdiction.
Federal law enforcement did enlist Georgia State Patrol, a state agency, to provide perimeter security near the plant on the day of the raid but did not divulge details of the operation ahead of time, according to the state patrol.
Muñoz labeled the raid a “bad surprise.” But he reiterated Hyundai’s commitment to the plant in Ellabell, located a half-hour’s drive from Savannah, and to the South Korean automaker’s continued manufacturing in the United States.
“We are not here for the short term,” Muñoz said. “We’ve been here for many years. This is our No. 1 market.”
Muñoz and other Hyundai officials have made similar statements on several occasions since the September raid. The most recent before Wednesday came just last week, when Hyundai and LG Energy Solution confirmed work had resumed on the battery factory, with some of the South Korean technicians caught up in the ICE raid having returned to Georgia to complete machinery installation.
Slated to open in the first half 2026, the plant will manufacture lithium battery packs for EVs being made next door and is a joint venture between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution. The factory is one of six affiliated supplier facilities on the Hyundai campus, the largest economic development project in Georgia history.
About the Author
Adam Van Brimmer is a journalist who covers politics and Coastal Georgia news for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
