Hey y’all, welcome back to Unfit to Print.
Today I am addressing a demand for a retraction and apology for something I said on a podcast. Let’s be clear…
I’M NOT SORRY
I am one of those sick freaks who reads all of the comments on YouTube.
Many communications professionals tell you not to read the comments because people can be very mean online. That is true: I have one “fan” who constantly remarks on how much I love mozzarella sticks (fat jokes used to be more creative).
But I also frequently get really useful feedback from the comments, including story tips and positive encouragement. On several occasions, someone has even provided an important correction to something I said on air.
So when I saw the following comment on the latest episode of NatCon Squad, I took it very seriously:
“Until the NatCon squad issues an apology and retraction for the lie of calling the 475 Koreans who were legally working in Georgia ‘illegal aliens’, all I can do is presume that everything they say are lies and they are just a bunch of hacks.”
Wow, I thought, I may have really bungled this story!
You may recall the initial reporting. U.S. immigration officials raided a Hyundai plant in Georgia and announced they had nabbed 475 illegal workers (most, but not all, Koreans). The raid was especially notable because it took place at an electric vehicle battery plant that former President Joe Biden claimed would create American jobs.
“Hyundai’s commitment to invest more than $5 billion and create more than 8,000 jobs making electric vehicles and batteries will help boost the entire community around Bryan County with good jobs people can raise a family on, and ultimately help lower costs for the American people,” Biden said in an October 2022 press release about the new plant.
Instead, the 475-person roundup was the “largest single site enforcement operation” in Homeland Security history. Later news reports indicated that 317 people were ultimately arrested following the raid.
The crackdown really angered South Korea. Local newspapers claimed the illegal laborers were treated like “prisoners of war” and described the “humiliation” of South Koreans being kicked out of the country by their American allies. Hyundai said they were not direct employees and said it was investigating the incident.
In order to protect diplomatic relations and future business investments, America capitulated. After making an agreement with the South Korean government, American authorities allowed all of the violators to return home without being officially deported and said they may return to the U.S. legally in the future.
Some, including my YouTube friend who made the comment demanding an apology and retraction, took the plant workers being released in their home country as evidence that they were in the U.S. legally.
But that is not the case.
In a New York Times article on the ensuing diplomatic tensions between the two countries, the outlet reports that Hyundai and LG allow non-American workers to “enter the United States on short-term business or tourist visas, sometimes skirting the law.” [Emphasis mine.]
“We knew that we were treading a gray zone between legal and illegal,” one of the plant workers admitted to the NYT.
Many of the workers were admitted under B-1 Temporary Business Visitor visas, which allow one to six months of business travel for “consulting with business associates, negotiating contracts or attending conferences,” according to the NYT and government information websites.
Meanwhile, other employees were reportedly traveling to the U.S. through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), a program that determines eligibility for entry under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). There are restrictions on business travel under the 90-day VWP — similar to the B-1, you can attend meetings and conferences but cannot be engaged in “the performance of skilled or unskilled labor.”
There is one relevant exceptions for the B-1 program, including the installation of equipment purchased from a company outside the U.S. — but the visa recipient must possess skills or knowledge that cannot be replicated by an American worker.
So, in order to reach the conclusion that the “475 Koreans … were legally working in Georgia,” as my YouTube friend claimed, we’d have to believe that all of them were doing work within the very limited exceptions allowed by their B-1 visas or VWPs — amid an entire factory being built around them — and that none had overstayed their visas.
(There has only been one publicly reported example of someone who was actually abiding by the terms of their travel to the U.S. The DHS acknowledged this person’s compliance when they were initially detained and allowed them the opportunity to voluntarily return home with their coworkers.)
What seems more likely? 475 foreign workers out of the roughly 2,000 people employed to build the EV plant were highly skilled software technicians with skills that could not be replicated by Americans? Or 475 foreign workers were doing labor that was expressly prohibited under the terms of their visa because it saved Hyundai-LG from contracting American workers?
Some further evidence that suggests the second scenario is more likely?
Employees are currently suing a Hyundai subsidiary over an alleged visa fraud scheme. A class-action lawsuit filed in 2024 alleges that these companies deliberately found high-skilled workers in Mexico to apply for professional-level foreign visas. But when the workers arrived, they were effectively demoted and required to perform manual labor that was prohibited under their visas.
The suit says, “This case involves fraud, discrimination, breach of contract, racketeering, and wage violations against foreign workers of Mexican ancestry and national origin who were exploited as part of an illegal scheme for cheap labor in Defendants’ warehouses. Plaintiffs were induced to move to the United States by GFA with false promises of highly paid skilled engineering jobs.”
The plaintiffs say they were paid less than American coworkers.
There is a broader question here about how best to bring foreign business investment to the U.S. If an auto manufacturer agrees to invest in a major plant, should the U.S. government take a more laissez-faire approach to immigration enforcement as foreign contractors work to get the plant online? Or are we always going to enforce the laws, even if it angers an ally and slows down plant construction?
That’s probably a topic for another day.
WHAT ELSE IS ON MY RADAR
This story truly has it all…
—
They truly do not care.
Democrat Rep Forced To Apologize After Mixing Up Murder Victims In Front Of Grieving Father
—
Puppet Edgar dealt with some unhinged vest-wearing feminists in his latest episode…
Loony Lefty Protesters LOSE IT On Puppet
Like what you’re reading? If so, please consider subscribing to State of the Day or sharing this with a friend. You’d be supporting this newsletter and help keep independent journalism alive.
 | A guest post by
|