Atlanta (AP) – Can Georgia Governor Brian Kemp be hard in immigration and still promote foreign investments?
Kemp has courted foreign investments in his state, but once offered to use his own pickup to complete “criminal illegals”. These two punches collided last week when the immigration authorities attacked a battery system and held foreign workers, which put Kemp in a difficult place.
Around 475 people were held in the RAID, including more than 300 South Koreans, on the construction site for a battery facility operated by HL-GA Battery Co., a joint venture between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution next year. The battery system is part of a 7.6 billion dollar complex, which is finally supposed to employ 8,500 people. It was announced and expanded from Kemp to South Korea to court officials in Hyundai and other companies.
Liability in South Korea triggered questions about their relationship with the United States, especially when Hyundai and his partners. Hyundai Has Said's Investing $ 26 Billion in the United States from 2025 to 2028. That included in Ellabell, About 50 Miles (80 kilometers) West of Savannah Where Hyundai Motor Group Makes Electric Vehicles, But a Separate $ 5 Battery Joint Venture in Cartersville, Georgia, A Steel Mill in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, A Robotics Hub and Expansion of the Hyundai Plant in Montgomery, Alabama and the Kia Corp. -Werk in West Point, Georgia.
Kemp has expressed support for the enforcement of immigration, but was held back in the consequences of the RAID.
“In Georgia we will always enforce the law, including all state and federal immigration laws. All companies working in the state must follow the laws of Georgia and our nation,” said the governor on Friday in a written statement.
In 2026, Kemp cannot run for the governor again and has said goodbye to a US senate race, but has talked about a 2028 edge for the President. He has not yet said anything about whether the raid will have a long -term influence on Hyundai's investments. On Friday, his office only said that the Foreign Ministry for Public Security had coordinated with ice cream to support the robbery.
Kemp's office did not immediately answer any further questions on Tuesday.
This is his second term as a governor and he has declared the goal of making Georgia a “electromobility capital of America”. But the Republican also spoke hard in an advertisement from 2018, and said in an advertisement from 2018 that “I have a large truck in the event that I have to bring a few illegal illegals home” and a state law that checked immigration status for immigration status to check the draw to check the undecided.
The attack comes when Kemp Enger brought into harmony with the administration of President Donald Trump about the enforcement of immigration and other problems. The governor has a long history in which he asserted his independence from Trump, who sometimes led to heading indicators. Kemp announced last month that he would mobilize 75 soldiers from the National Guard to support immigration and customs authorities in Georgia. He followed by announcing that he would send more than 300 members of the National Guard to take part in Trump's law enforcement in Washington, DC,
Like most governors, Kemp is looking for foreign investments that have built up most of the auto industry in the south. Kemp has traveled to South Korea twice to meet Hyundai and other great investors in Georgia, including the Electric Battery Maker LG Group.
Kemp denies the claim that taxpayers subsidized the jobs of the detained persons. His administration says that none of the projected state and local incentives of 2.1 billion US dollars for the Hyundai complex benefit the subcontractors who employ prisoners.
“Without exception, the Department of Economic Development expects everyone who works in Georgia to follow federal and state laws,” said the department.
Kemp greeted Green Energy Investment and jobs, but with the democratic US Senator Jon Ossoff, who should be recognized by the Green Energy Boom in Georgia.
Kemp strongly denies that incentives signed by President Joe Biden have stimulated investments and said the industries came to Georgia before the law on the reduction of inflation was passed in 2022. But if at all, the rush accelerated after Biden signed his climate law.
The 33 additional projects announced by the end of 2024 were, according to the E2, an environmental group of companies, on the nationwide nationwide. The exact figures differ, but projects in Georgia show 20 billion US dollars and promised more than 25,000 jobs. Hyundai continued to invest when Trump and Congress Republican rolled back electric vehicles.
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