00:00How did hundreds of South Korean Hyundai workers end up in immigration enforcement custody,
00:05despite some claims from an attorney that many of them had visas that should have allowed them
00:10to be in the U.S. legally? The September 4th raid of a Hyundai plant in Georgia ended with
00:19more than 300 South Korean workers in ICE custody. An attorney representing more than a dozen of
00:25those workers says they were brought to America specifically to help build this multi-billion
00:31dollar investment from Hyundai. These individuals weren't hired to do the work of Americans.
00:37These individuals were brought over from abroad, from their current positions abroad,
00:43who install products and oversee the building, internal building of the plant that will then
00:50create jobs for Americans. So these people weren't doing jobs Americans can do.
00:56President Trump said these workers were in the country illegally. He also said the U.S. needs
01:02arrangements with countries like South Korea to train Americans to do this work.
01:07Now, they could technically train Americans to do this, but it takes around three to five years to
01:14be properly trained before an individual will be authorized to engage in this work.
01:18So Hyundai could say, great, we will train your Americans for three to five years,
01:24and then we'll bring them over to install the plant and then hire the rest of the workers
01:29in four years. Or we can bring our guys under this visa, which is perfectly allowed and has been around
01:36since at least 1990, and get it done quickly, and then you can hire U.S. workers quickly.
01:42Kuck said all his clients were on one of two kinds of visas that would allow them to work in the U.S.
01:49for a limited amount of time.
01:51There are only a very few kinds of work visas available. H-1B is for professionals,
01:56and that is a lottery that is conducted only once a year, and you have less than 50 percent,
02:02far less than 50 percent chance of winning the lottery. H-2B has to go through a whole set of
02:09legal procedures that can take months to process. B-1, B-2, these are tourist-slash-business visas
02:16that are not really typically for working in the United States.
02:20He says that can leave businesses like Hyundai with limited options to bring in their own workers.
02:27In order to build the plant, Hyundai needs specific equipment. I can tell you that that equipment is
02:34not made in the United States. Otherwise, they would buy it from here. There's no reason to pay
02:39import taxes and bring people over. So their only choice, if they wanted to build this plant at the
02:45behest of the state of Georgia, for example, would be to bring in these workers and this equipment from
02:50abroad. Reports now say South Korea plans to bring the workers back to their home country.
02:55Ordinarily, you don't have a government intervening saying, we'll bring our citizens home. So this
03:03is kind of extraordinary in certain kinds of ways. But it is consistent with the Trump administration's
03:12stated effort to enforce the law when it comes to workplaces.
03:17Hyundai has not commented on the raid or what happens to the plant. Homeland Security Secretary
03:23Kristi Noem echoed Trump's comments about the importance of training American workers to do
03:29these jobs. I think President Trump's message was powerful. His message today that he sent to the
03:35world was, listen, our laws will be enforced and we're encouraging all companies who want to come
03:39to the United States and and help us economy or economy and employ people that we encourage them to
03:46employ U.S. citizens and to bring people to our country that want to follow our our laws and work
03:52here the right way. Cook says the workers were following the law. This was the was and is the
03:58correct visa for these individuals to do exactly what they were doing inside the United States.
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