Globalist Guffaws, Georgia Style – Trump Opposes Hyundai ICE Raid
Do you ever get the sense we’ve stepped into a parallel universe where “Georgia First” actually means Georgia Faux”? My own fearless state rep Charlice Byrd (shout-out!) has been busy reposting the Georgia Freedom Caucus’ recent screed: “That’s not Georgia First. That’s not America First. That’s Brian Kemp siding with his globalist WEF allies over the people of Georgia. Unacceptable.”
To be clear: the target is our governor Brian Kemp, flying off to South Korea, while allegedly letting foreign firms bring in illegal workers rather than Georgia folks. Let’s unpack this.
The Georgia Freedom posted on social media, “Kemp leaves Georgia after the largest single-site ICE raid in history — at his own Hyundai project — … He promised these would be jobs for Georgians. Instead, they went to hundreds of illegal workers. And now, instead of fixing it, he’s pushing for expedited visas to keep those same workers here.”
Bold words. Big accusations. It’s a mouthful of outrage, complete with the obligatory “globalist WEF” flair that’s become the Georgia Freedom Caucus’ favorite seasoning. The problem? None of it survives contact with reality.
When Donald Trump (yes that Trump) weighed in, he didn’t say “Yep, illegal workers replaced Georgians, shut it down.”
“I was very much opposed. [to the ICE raid]
Look, when they come in and they’re making very complex machinery, equipment, things, they’re going to have to bring some people in at least at the initial phase. In that case it was batteries. Batteries are very complex and they’re actually very dangerous to make. You can’t just pick people off an unemployment line and say we just, you know, opened up a two billion dollar battery factory.
So, we’ve got an understanding and this is with the world, by the way, this is not just with South Korea. This is when they come into our country, we have a lot of factories being built by outside by foreign interests when they come in.
Some of these factories make very, very complex, very highly sophisticated equipment. They’ve got to bring people in with them for a period of time. They’ll teach our people how to do it, but even for a fairly long period of time they’re going to need expertise to be successful, and we’re going to let people know.
I’m letting them know right now that when they come into our country, we can expect to see them bring in with them some very talented people that have been doing it for many years.
They’ll teach our people how to do it.
Our people will be just as good as they are within a period of time, and it will be a phase out, but we want them to bring in experts, and that’s the way it is.”
That does not read like a confirmation of hundreds of illegal workers supplanting Georgians. It reads like “We allowed tech/foreign experts for a period so Americans can learn the ropes, then you hire Americans.”
So when the Georgia Freedom Caucus says “instead, they went to hundreds of illegal workers,” they’re misrepresenting that the raid targeted workers who were arguably in visa/immigration trouble, many of them experts brought in during set-up, not long-term unskilled laborers replacing Georgians. And yes, many of those experts were foreign. Trump recognized that: “When they come in and they’re making very complex machinery… they’re going to have to bring some people in, at least at the initial phase.”
President Trump’s comment tells us he sees a legitimate role for some foreign expertise to train American workers, with a “phase-out” afterwards.
Look, I get the instinct: “Kemp flew off to South Korea? Globalist! Hyundai? Asian company? Suspicious!” But if you’re going to blast “That’s not America First” like the banner at a high-school pep rally, you better arm yourself with facts, not fear bait.
Also missing from the Georgia Freedom Caucus’s social media, any criticism of the President also visiting our friends in South Korea.
The Georgia Freedom Caucus and Representative Byrd are using a real event (the raid) and saying: “See? Illegal workers. Kemp ignored Georgians.” But what we actually have is: foreign-expert workers brought in for a high-tech manufacturing site, then enforcement followed when visa/work authorization problems emerged. That’s different from “jobs meant for Georgians were given to illegals.” Notice I am not excusing the problems with the visas, which certainly should be addressed, probably through legislation.
Also, let’s talk about the “WEF globalist” line too: Enough already. I’m all for calling out real international elitism and Beltway cronies but plugging a local jobs dispute into the “WEF global agenda” furnace is just theater. Kemp going to South Korea to chat trade and investment? That’s part of his job. If we actually live in a world of “Georgia First = lock the doors and say no to everything foreign,” the result is fewer factories, fewer jobs, and fewer opportunities for Georgians.
Charlice Byrd isn’t fighting globalism. She’s feeding gullibility.
If you’re going to call something “unacceptable,” don’t start with spreading a claim so flimsy that even Donald Trump feels it important to push back on it. The Hyundai site isn’t some secret migrant colony, it’s an industrial investment that Trump himself defended.
Georgia doesn’t need another Facebook warrior pretending to guard the gates of sovereignty. It needs leaders who can tell the difference between immigration enforcement and economic development.
And if Rep. Byrd wants to claim the mantle of “America First,” maybe she should start by listening to the man who coined it instead of spreading phony outrage.
