ICE Raids Will Shackle US Manufacturing Ambitions
Gratuitous humiliation of detainees is only one of several ways the administration is undermining its own push to boost reshoring.
Putting out the unwelcome sign.
Photographer: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The White House has brandished flamboyant, 12-figure investment pledges from foreign nations as proof its global tariff assault is producing rewards for Americans. Pressure alone, however, won’t transform those promises into factories on the ground.
A sweeping immigration raid on a Korean battery plant in Georgia on Sept. 4 underscores the challenge. Barely 10 days earlier, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung had flown to Washington to cement a trade truce, promising a $350 billion fund to help companies expand in the US, including in batteries, shipbuilding and autos; private Korean firms committed another $150 billion. Not surprisingly, images of hundreds of Korean employees then being shackled like criminals for suspected visa violations provoked a fierce backlash.