Trump got countries to pledge to invest in manufacturing and other ventures in the U.S. Will they do it if their workers from the sourcing country are put in chains by ICE?

Temporary labor programs can be mired to bureaucratic decision-making culture, which entails delays and use of guidelines that are hard to meet and also easy to violate. These issues appear in very temporary business visits (addressed here), long term stays such as the H-1B program (three years), and seasonal farm labor programs, such as the H-2A program. The permission process for these programs is so complex that employers using these programs often make heavy use of temporary staffing firm to get the permissions.

A boiling point was reached in a September 4 ICE raid on Hyundai-LG battery plant under construction in Ellabell, Georgia, part of a joint venture between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution.  Some 300 Koreans were put in chains.  The ham-handed arrests escalated doubt about how foreign investors can invest in projects that require specialized help by foreign nationals.

The permissions used by Koreans were very likely B-1 business visitor visas and the visa waiver / ESTA program (Electronic System for Travel Authorization). Both can be used for “business,” such as training, planning, etc., but not actual “work.”  Work is defined as jobs that Americans can do. A B-1 visa might take weeks to obtain (including a visit to a consulate). A visa waiver is obtained within minutes, available for citizens of 40 trusted countries. Korea is one of them. These waivers last 90 days. One uses a B-1 when a single stay is up to six months, and when repeated visits over years is expected.

Allowed under B-1/ESTA: Korean engineers can visit for several weeks to up to six months at a time (valid for up to ten years) to train U.S. staff on how to operate new equipment. They give presentations, observe, and answer questions. Not allowed: Those engineers must not install the machines themselves, run production lines, or supervise construction crews. That is considered “work,” and they’d need an employment visa (like H-1B, L-1, or H-2B depending on the role). One problem with this is that installing and testing machines may involve proprietary information that the plant owners do not want to reveal to Americans.

The Hyundai plant owners reportedly engaged with specialized contractors, for whom the workers were employed, for the purpose of managing the B-1/ESTA programs bureaucracy.

Wall Street Journal editorial on arrest and placing in chains the 300 Korean engaged in the  Hyundai plant in Georgia said:

“The fallout from last week’s blunderbuss raid on a Hyundai plant in Georgia continues to reverberate in South Korea, and it pays to listen to President Lee Jae Myung’s remarks this week. “This could significantly impact future direct investment in the U.S.,” Mr. Lee said at a news conference. South Korean companies “can’t help hesitating a lot” about making new investments in the U.S. if their workers are liable to end up in detention facilities.”