Donald Trump (File photo)
US immigration authorities carried out the largest-ever Homeland Security enforcement operation at a single location this week, arresting hundreds of workers at a Hyundai-linked battery plant in Georgia. The sweeping raid coincided with a second consecutive weak jobs report, raising further questions about the impact of President Donald Trump’s economic and immigration policies.Federal agents, earlier this week, detained 475 people — most of them South Korean citizens — at a construction site for an electric vehicle battery facility in Ellabell, near Savannah, officials said. “The workers arrested were in the United States illegally or were working unlawfully,” said Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia, a squoted by NYT.South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun confirmed Saturday that over 300 of those arrested were South Korean nationals. He added he may travel to the United States to discuss the arrests with Washington.The mass arrests came as the Labor Department reported that the US economy added only 22,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3 per cent, its highest level in nearly four years. Revised data also showed the first net job loss since the pandemic, with employment falling by 13,000 in June. The poor report pointed to the the strains of Trump’s agenda, which combines sweeping tariffs and aggressive immigration crackdowns. Analysts say his policies are driving up costs for companies while leaving many employers struggling to find workers. “We’ve got a private sector that’s caught in a pinch here between these higher cost pressures and reduced demand,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon. “Both measures, whether it’s inflation or employment, are moving in the wrong direction. They’re moving toward a stagflationary environment.”Trump has repeatedly dismissed weak economic data as politically motivated. When a sharp hiring slowdown was reported last month, he claimed without evidence that the figures were “rigged” and fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner responsible. He has since nominated a political ally, economist EJ Antoni, to the post.Still, the latest jobs report shows the agency remains independent. Kevin Hassett, head of the White House National Economic Council, conceded in a CNBC interview that the figures had been “a disappointment.”Trump, meanwhile, has blamed the Federal Reserve for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. Economists say monetary easing and recent tax cuts could bring modest relief in 2026, but warn that the president’s trade and immigration measures are fueling inflation and suppressing growth.
