Hyundai CEO distances company from ICE raid: ‘not our facility’

José Muñoz, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, delivers remarks astatine the company’s CEO Investor Day connected September 18th successful New York City. | Image: Jason DeCrow / AP Content Services for Hyundai Motor Company

Today, the CEO of Hyundai sought to region his institution from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid earlier this month astatine the company’s artillery mill successful Georgia, which resulted successful the apprehension of hundreds of South Korean workers. 

The mill is operated by LG Energy Solutions, and astir of the workers that were detained were employed by suppliers for that company, not Hyundai, José Muñoz said successful a briefing with reporters connected Thursday after the automaker’s CEO Investor Day lawsuit successful New York City. 

“I could not judge what I saw due to the fact that I would person known, astir apt earlier the news,” Muñoz said, erstwhile asked astir his archetypal absorption to the raid. “So I said, thing is weird here. How tin thing hap [and] cipher told me?  And erstwhile I spell into the details, past I recognize it’s not our facility. It’s LG’s artillery plant.”

“It’s similar thing happened successful Fox News,” helium continued, successful effect to a question from a CNN reporter. “And they said, ‘How travel you didn’t know?‘ I said, ’Hey, I’m moving for CNN,’ right? So aforesaid deal.”

Muñoz griped that each the media’s photos of the raid person shown Hyundai’s Metaplant installation alternatively than the neighboring LG factory. “All the pictures that were shown everywhere, they are pictures of a installation which is antithetic from wherever the raid happened,” helium said.

His remarks travel a fewer days aft helium confirmed that the plant’s operation would beryllium delayed 2 to 3 months owed to labour shortages. And they travel amid the increasing fallout from the September 4th raid, which resulted successful the apprehension of 475 workers, astir of whom were from South Korea, astatine the artillery works that is jointly operated by Hyundai and LG Energy Solutions.

President Donald Trump has sought to placate South Korea aft the raid, announcing that helium volition let overseas companies to temporarily bring successful “people of expertise” to bid American workers. But critics accidental the harm whitethorn already person been done, arsenic overseas companies present recognize their ain workers could get rounded up successful Trump’s migration crackdown.

The Hyundai-LG raid was truthful antithetic due to the fact that it seemed to people a reasonably emblematic situation. When opening a caller installation successful the US, overseas automakers typically bring a cadre of their ain employees to assistance with the operation and then, erstwhile it’s completed, bid American workers to run it. Labor experts pass that the ICE raid successful Georgia could chill overseas concern successful the US and people peculiar industries, particularly automakers moving connected EVs. 

Muñoz defended the overseas workers who were successful Georgia to assistance physique the factory, arguing that the expertise to physique these specialized factories doesn’t beryllium successful the US. And helium called for the instauration of a caller benignant of visa for highly skilled workers who assistance make these tremendous projects, to guarantee aboriginal raids don’t happen. 

“I deliberation the US authorities has acknowledged that determination needs to beryllium a amended solution to code this benignant of situation,” helium said. “I deliberation some governments successful South Korea and the US are moving actively to effort to guarantee that situations similar this don’t hap again.”