After the large-scale detention of South Korean employees, a senior US official said that more enterprises would be targeted

After U.S. law enforcement agencies carried out large-scale raids and seized hundreds of undocumented employees in Georgia, including South Korean citizens, senior White House officials said that the Trump administration plans to target more business facilities and intensify law enforcement against illegal immigrants.

Reuters reported that White House Border affairs Director Horman, known as the "Border Tsar" of the United States, said on CNN's State of the Union program on Sunday (September 7) that the government will further focus on the workplace.

Hormann said, "We will carry out more law enforcement actions in the workplace." No one hires illegal immigrants out of good intentions. They hire illegal immigrants because these people are willing to do harder work and accept lower wages, which weakens the competitiveness of enterprises that employ American citizens.

Those who oppose Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrants and some business groups say that major industries in the United States, including agriculture, the hotel industry, and the meat processing industry, all rely on immigrant workers without legal status.

On September 4th, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Homeland Security Investigation Service and other law enforcement agencies carried out a surprise law enforcement operation on a factory under construction and related contractors in Georgia, arresting 475 employees without legal status. This factory is a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution for electric vehicle battery production.

The South Korean foreign affairs department verified that more than 300 South Korean citizens among the employees of LG Energy Solution and its partner companies were detained in this raid, and no employees of Hyundai Motor were arrested. The South Korean government promptly launched response actions. Besides retrieving the detained individuals and completing consultations with the US side, it also promised to improve the visa system for traveling to the US to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Yonhap News Agency quoted diplomatic sources as saying that South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyon will travel to the United States on Monday (the 8th) and is expected to meet with US officials to discuss the administrative procedures for releasing detained South Korean citizens.

The BBC analysis pointed out that this surprise law enforcement might trigger a potential contradiction between Trump's two priority policies of developing domestic manufacturing and cracking down on illegal immigrants. Georgia Governor Kemp is seeking to turn the state into the electric vehicle capital of the United States.