A big deal: the Hyundai battery plant raid and the deeper labor history of the foreign-owned auto sector in the U.S.

On 4 September 2025, hundreds of federal agents stormed a Hyundai electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia, arresting 475 workers − 300 of them Korean nationals – in the largest immigration raid at a single location in U.S. history. Described by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as a ‘big deal,’ the raid attracted widespread attention, in the U.S. and beyond. Although most accounts linked it to the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies, this article explores the deeper labor issues it revealed. It interrogates both the longer history of the foreign-owned auto sector – which accounted for half of North American production – and Hyundai’s longer labor record. Utilizing primary and secondary records, I argue that the raid was a ‘big deal’ not just because of Trump’s immigration policies, but because of what it revealed about the huge foreign-owned auto sector, which had long attracted industry through union avoidance, chiefly to the South. Incentives, lower wages, and a union-free environment were central to Hyundai’s decision to locate there, revealing a deeper history of corporate largesse and poor accountability. Hyundai also had a long history of labor problems, including strained relations with Korean unions, centralized management, and allegations of using child and prison labor at U.S. suppliers.