‘No thanks’: Raided South Korean workers leave US despite Trump’s offer to let them stay

https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/access-asia/20250912-no-thanks-raided-south-korean-workers-leave-us-despite-trump-s-offer-to-let-them-stay

36 comments

  1. Who would like to live in the USA currently? Honestly? Other than the Americans who don’t know any better and people from crime ridden countries, I would assume nobody sane would go there.

    Although apparently Ed Sheeran is moving to USA soon, which is odd.

  2. **More than 300 South Koreans detained in the US after a massive immigration raid on a Hyundai-LG factory have returned home, despite the Trump administration’s offer to let them stay. As he marked 100 days since he took over a country in crisis, President Lee Jae Myung warned that the incident could make companies hesitate to invest in the US. Jay Song, honorary associate professor at The Australian National University, speaks to FRANCE 24 about the possible wider consequences of the raid.**

  3. What a disastrous image this sends to all international investment to the US in the near, and long term future! That single Hyundai battery company was supposed to employ 8,500 jobs in Georgia.

    It’s just a phenomenal Self Own!

  4. Better run before some gun toting lunatic visits that place to clean America from the immigrants.

  6. As a Korean, I urge the Korean government to prioritize political stability in Third World countries when sending its citizens on business trips.

  7. It’s truly impressive that such a colossal failure in both foreign and domestic policy could be orchestrated solely to divert public attention from that infamous file.

  8. For people confused over why S.Korea views this as a political incident:

    >The detention stemmed from workers using B1 business visas and the 90-day visa waiver programme (Esta) for what US authorities deemed actual employment rather than permitted activities such as meetings or training.

    >Korean companies have long relied on this “grey zone” because the official H-1B work visas take months to obtain and South Korea lacks the dedicated quota allocations that other US trade partners enjoy. Previous US administrations had largely turned a blind eye to the practice.

    With neither quota allocations nor this “grey zone” in effect anymore, S.Korean companies have been effectively throttled in wanting to expand to US.

    The point is that S.Korea had been pushing for quota allocations since 2010s acc to [https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-industry/2025/09/09/JQYPWUT5R5AM5ITCFRCH7G6UTM/](https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-industry/2025/09/09/JQYPWUT5R5AM5ITCFRCH7G6UTM/)

  9. Why would these people stay? They risk getting arrested again when/if ICE needs to meet their quotas again.

  10. Oh, I love it. Trump “offering” to let them stay only to train US workers to take over. No better way to piss off anyone who get that kind of treatment.

    This will cost dearly for US in lost investment. But hey, Trump before becoming president was doing great job bankrupting his businesses multiple times come to thing about it. 😛

  11. Turns out being handcuffed, zip tied and shackled can upset people.

    For me, I’d be incredibly upset at my employer too. I wouldn’t be going back without serious guarantees and $.

  12. How could they ever trust that their new Visas are valid if some random ICE agent can grab them at any moment and declare them illegal with no due process?

  13. Humiliating your allies is incredibly dumb. Literally an unforced error.

  14. Trump and Republicans have done nothing but give us ruin and problems.

  15. Putin’s greatest achievement required no guns or military whatsoever..

  17. They are wise to get out while they can; tomorrow TACO will change his mind and they would end up in CECOT.

    This will kill foreign investment as dead as Canadian tourism.

    Never did I dream I would hate the US “government” quite this much.

  18. “Relax guys! I get it that you were all arrested, traumatized and treated like criminals over a visa issue, but come on! Don’t you wanna work in this wonderful country, hmm?”

  20. Hell, AMERICANS don’t want to stay in America. Why would they?

  22. Surprise! People don’t like being hostages.

    The most hilarious part is that the South Koreans were basically there to get the place running and train staff… Until that went from a work assignment to a political hostage situation.

  23. What these right-wing nutjobs never understand is that the president saying you can stay does not make anyone feel safer, it just means that one person can decide on a whim whether you are safe or not. A society with no clear rules can survive, but typically not for a long time.

  24. Why do these important workers not want to stay after a friendly visit from the Gestapo? It’s a mystery

  25. If you have all your paperwork and permits in order and still end up in cuffs and being dragged off to some black site over a political stunt, would you still trust the same country not to do any of that again?

  26. I think we can all admit that the American “empire” will be dead as a doornail by the end of this administration.

    So. Say goodbye to the golden age.

  27. It’s 6 am on the east cost, Saturday Morning. Trump is rolling out of bed now, thinking, what can I fuck up today.

  28. There is a big difference between sincerely apologising for the incident and letting them stay.

    I am not surprised the Koreans left, Trump’s art of the deal approach is terrible and reflects why he has such a bad business history of bankruptcies and law suits.

  29. Let them stay? They came to do business in a country that is known for its capitalism and this is how you do business? Trump is supposed to be a businessman right?

  30. South Korea should consider investing more in Canada 🇨🇦 and Australia 🇦🇺.

  32. Bro, if ICE turned up checked everyone’s visa and determined it was invalid and told everyone to leave within 72 hours, all good no problem.

    The fact you chained, detained and treated these guys like some fucking illegal border crossing drug smuggling aliens. Yeah I wonder why they said no thanks

  33. Tori Branum, a MAGA politician, was the person who reported to ICE.

  34. Can you imagine being a high tech worker, and your company sends you to other countries around the world to set up new factories, then you ge arrested there and detained for days. Do you think you would ever go back? Do you think your coworkers would?

  35. “Please, stay in our prison nation, where you might get transferred from your job to a cell at any moment!”

    American tourism advertising, 2025

    This message was approved by the guy who hasn’t released the Epstein files.

  36. Hyundai and Samsung are the two biggest companies in S.Korea.

    If both of those companies pull out future investment from the US, that’s like losing an entire nation.

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