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Leaked Ice document shows worker detained in Hyundai raid had valid visa
- JohnFen 1y agoHonestly, I'd be very surprised if that didn't happen. We live in a nation where even US citizens are getting arrested by ICE. Nobody is safe.
- pavel_lishin 1y agoAt least one, according to the document. I'm curious how many more will turn out to have been working legally.
- buyucu 1y agovery likely all of them
- quamserena 1y agoIt's a bit more complicated than that. They all had valid (at the time) visas, but some may have been in violation of the requirements. South Korean companies couldn't get H1-B visas so they instead used VWP or B1/B2 visas meant for tourism and short-term business (conferences, negotiation, etc.). These visas don't allow certain kinds of work, so it depends what they were actually doing at the plant. From the article it sounds like that ICE agent thinks at least that one worker wasn't doing any proscribed work. In a sane world, an immigration court would look at the evidence and decide if the visa requirements had been violated. But instead we're just summarily deporting people. https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/workers-say-korea-inc-was-warned-about-questionable-us-visas-before-hyundai-raid-2025-09-09/ https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/workers-say-k...
- elygre 1y agoThe article says that the ICE agent thinks the worker was compliant with visa terms: «From statements made and queries in law enforcement databases, [redacted] has not violated his visa; however, the Atlanta Field Office Director has mandated [redacted] be presented as a Voluntary Departure. [Redacted] has accepted voluntary departure despite not violating his B1/B2 visa requirements.»
- quamserena 1y agoI read that statement as saying that no violations are currently on the record, but not precluding that the requirements might currently be being violated.
- deepthunder 1y agoDo we know WHO ordered this ICE hit? Because this is a clown show of Epic proportions. Those guys were there to set up a factory for MAGA people to work at. This stunt has ignorance and stupidity stamped all over it.
- pavel_lishin 1y agoYes: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/tori-branum-hyundai-factory-arrest-ice-b2823483.html https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-polit...
- bbreier 1y agoIt’s unfortunate that many Americans are comfortable with this guilty even if proven innocent approach to justice
- jimbo808 1y ago> From statements made and queries in law enforcement databases, [redacted] has not violated his visa; however, the Atlanta Field Office Director has mandated [redacted] be presented as a Voluntary Departure. [Redacted] has accepted voluntary departure despite not violating his B1/B2 visa requirements.” The article worded the whole thing very carefully, in a way to me is intentionally misleading. The director mandated that the visa holder be labeled as a voluntary departure. That could simply mean the person decided he would return, and was allowed to do so, and the director simply informed whoever filled out the paperwork that this was a voluntary departure. There is nothing in the article that actually indicates the person was forced to leave the country with a valid visa. The fact that they dance around this tells me that this article is bullshit. And knowing what I know about The Guardian, it almost certainly is.
- elygre 1y agoIf I was rounded up in an ICE raid, I would enthusiastically depart the country, even if I was fully compliant with every rule. That’s to say that a voluntary departure doesn’t mean no harm was caused.
- jimbo808 1y agoBut if harm was caused, The Guardian would probably be more explicit about it. They wouldn't beat around the bush in how they word it.
- rich_sasha 1y agoIf Ice detained me, kept me in kafkaesque isolation, shuttled me around for a few hours from one detention centre to another, but did no other harm, I'd probably also be happy to GTFO, and might even concede no harm was done.
- mindslight 1y agoI'm curious to see how the societal suicide cultists rationalize this directly harmful "enforcement" action versus the supposed goal of rebuilding US manufacturing. Construction workers and engineering expertise are required for building factories. Especially with advanced technologies, we're playing catch up in expertise and thus reliant on foreign engineers to bootstrap our local talent (like what China did for the past two decades). And while the construction workers could be domestic citizens, the rest of the world isn't going to stop and wait for us for the years it takes to reorganize our economy and train them.
- quxbar 1y agoNot just stop and wait, the intention is that the world will fully start to spin backwards and reverse the flow of time until post-WW2 abundance returns. All that's needed is the right cargo cult of American values.
- tclancy 1y agoI've bad news for you, they seem ok with it: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/tori-branum-hyundai-factory-arrest-ice-b2823483.html https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-polit...
- mindslight 1y agoShe's just one nutjob figurehead. I'm talking about the larger number of people who supported, and are seemingly still supporting the deranged figureheads. When you examine the details, none of these policies actually benefit America - and doubly so with the incompetent execution. Yet as the results become increasingly undeniable, the supporters are twisting themselves into ever-tighter knots trying to stay in that fictional universe.
- Jgoauh 1y agoYikesies
- buyucu 1y agoOf course they did. A company like Hyundai that depends on government incentives is not going to take stupid risks with visas and work permits.
- chrisco255 1y agoThey had over 300 illegal workers in that plant: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj07jzgve45o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj07jzgve45o
- rrobukef 1y agoThat is not what the article says.
- buyucu 1y agoI doubt it. 300 people were detained, but not clear information in the public whether or not they were there legally.
- chrisco255 1y agoNo it says 475 were detained. There would be no need for South Korean government to reach a deal with the U.S. if everything was legal.
- OgsyedIE 1y agoThe US says they had over 300 illegals. Last time I checked, the US was not an omniscient teller of truth.
- chrisco255 1y agoYes, because they did in fact. The U.S. government keeps the records on visas. Hyundai damn sure isn't a source of truth here.
- buyucu 1y ago
- farceSpherule 1y ago[flagged]
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- rokkamokka 1y agoLike Mr Garcia?
- mindslight 1y agoI guess we're now calling a perspective of individual liberty "biased" ?
- messe 1y agoIt's biased to think it's bad to arrest innocent people?
- farceSpherule 1y agoYou people realize that this was a month's long investigation and that the raid was approved by a federal judge? ICE did not simply show up and start arresting people.
- messe 1y agoAnd despite all that prep they still arrested innocent people.
- farceSpherule 1y ago[flagged]
- nerdjon 1y agoSo you be perfectly fine being arrested for doing nothing wrong and being somewhere completely legally just because there was a "month's long investigation" (whatever that means in this administration...).
- normalaccess 1y agoAlthough unfortunate this falls within the margin of error for such events. I hope everything gets resolved but a dragnet will cause a few false positives. Just the same as if the cops bust a party where there is under age drinking, one or two people might be old enough but you can't tell until you process everyone. And this wouldn't be the chaos it is if the border wasn't a free for all in the first place.
- Simulacra 1y agoI think that that's the crux of the issue: there was a conscientious driven effort to remove immigration barriers, but it could not be controlled, it could not be properly evaluated, and it became misery for everyone involved.
- carefulfungi 1y agoI'm just glad they survived the long swim from South Korea to the US-Mexico border.
- normalaccess 1y agoHere is the breakdown for illegal immigration by country of origin: By region: Mexico + Central America collectively made up 68% (~9.3 million) South America – ~12% (~1.7 million) Asia – ~6% (~851,000) Europe, Canada, Oceania – ~7% (~896,000) Caribbean – ~4% (~575,000) Africa – ~3% (~415,000) Source: migrationpolicy.org
- FuriouslyAdrift 1y agoB1/B2 visas are routinely violated by companies. These are not immigrant visas but temporary visitor visas for the purposes of attending meetings, etc. I think the shock from Hyundai is that violating these visas have been standard practice for so long that enforcement was not expected.