CaliToday (20/9/2025): The CEO of Hyundai, José Muñoz, revealed he was caught completely by surprise by the largest single-site immigration enforcement action in U.S. history, which took place at the company's flagship joint-venture battery plant in Georgia earlier this month. He said he first learned of the raid from news reports.
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| Hyundai CEO Jose Munoz speaks during a media tour in Ellabell, Georgia, on March 26. - Mike Stewart/AP |
"I couldn't believe what I saw, because normally I would have known before the news," Muñoz told CNN during a press roundtable on Thursday.
The raid, conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on September 4, resulted in the arrest of over 300 South Korean workers at the Hyundai-LG EV battery facility in Ellabell, Georgia. Those workers were deported back to South Korea last week.
Muñoz suggested he was not immediately informed because the plant, while a critical part of Hyundai's U.S. strategy, is operated by its partner, South Korea's LG Energy Solution. He confirmed he has been in contact with the Trump administration since the incident.
"I think both the Korean and the U.S. governments are trying to work to make sure this type of situation does not happen again," Muñoz told reporters.
Earlier on Thursday, during the company's first-ever U.S. investor conference in New York City, Muñoz opened his remarks by expressing sympathy for the affected workers and their families.
"I want to express our sincere empathy for the workers from our partner supplier companies who were detained. We understand the stress and hardship this has caused them and their families," he said.
The incident has highlighted a critical challenge for high-tech manufacturing in the U.S. The deported South Korean workers were specialists essential to the plant's construction and setup.
"What I've learned in the last couple of days and weeks is that the activities at this particular battery plant require very specific expertise that is not available in the country," Muñoz explained, noting that the company had to transfer workers from other plants to compensate for the lost labor.
This has prompted Muñoz to call for a change in U.S. visa policy. He argued that a special visa category should be created for highly specialized foreign workers who need to enter the country multiple times for project-based work. He pointed out that countries like Canada, Mexico, Singapore, and Chile have such visa agreements for professional workers with the U.S., but South Korea does not.
"I believe there should be a specially designed type of visa for these people who may need to enter the U.S. five, six, or seven times," Muñoz told CNN. "Once the plant is done, they won't come back."
Despite the major disruption, which Muñoz previously stated would delay the battery plant's grand opening by two to three months, Hyundai on Thursday reaffirmed its long-term commitment to the U.S. market. The company is proceeding with its planned $2.7 billion investment for the second phase of the Georgia complex, which is expected to create 3,000 new jobs. The Ellabell plant is a cornerstone of what has been described as the largest economic development project in Georgia's history.
