President Trump’s border tsar, Tom Homan, says there will be more worksite immigration enforcement operations after a raid on a Hyundai plant in Georgia resulted in hundreds of South Korean employees being detained. Mr. Homan also says the National Guard may be called into Chicago to aid with processing migrants for deportation processing. 

The raid on the Hyundai battery manufacturing plant in southeastern Georgia saw 475 immigrants arrested, the vast majority of whom were South Korean nationals. ICE said in a statement Friday that the search warrant for the plant was executed based on “serious allegations of unlawful employment practices and other potential federal crimes.”

The immigration enforcement agency says the employees were in the United States on short-term or recreational visas, which do not permit foreign nationals to work. The project is part of a more than $7 billion investment by Hyundai in Georgia, one of the state’s largest economic development projects and one that was expected to generate 8,500 jobs in the area.

According to the South Korean news outlet Yonhap, the South Korean nationals who are in federal custody will soon be returned home on a chartered plane. The outlet says the country’s foreign minister, Cho Hyun, will travel to the United States on Monday to meet with American officials to discuss how to avoid incidents like this in the future, and to ensure the safe return of the South Korean nationals who were detained Friday. 

Mr. Homan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, however, that workplace raids like the one in Georgia would continue if necessary. 

“The short answer is yes. We’re gonna do more worksite enforcement operations,” Mr. Homan said. “Number one, it’s a crime to enter this country illegally. Number two, it’s a crime to knowingly hire an illegal alien. These companies that hire illegal aliens, they undercut their competition … paying U.S. citizens’ salaries.”

“No one hires an illegal alien out of the goodness of their heart,” Mr. Homan added. “They hire them because they work them harder, pay them less, undercut the competition that hires U.S. citizen employees.”

Hyundai claims that none of the employees arrested at the plant were directly employed by the auto giant itself, according to a statement provided to local news outlet WTOC 11. 

“We are reviewing our processes to ensure that all parties working on our projects maintain the same high standards of legal compliance that we demand of ourselves. This includes thorough vetting of employment practices by contractors and subcontractors,” the company said. 

Mr. Homan said Sunday that the next large-scale ICE operations will likely occur in the city of Chicago. On Saturday, the president posted on Truth Social that America’s third-largest city was “about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”

When asked if Chicagoans should expect immigration raids or the deployment of the National Guard this week, Mr. Homan responded, “Absolutely.”

“You can expect action in most sanctuary cities across the country. President Trump has prioritized sanctuary cities because sanctuary cities knowingly release illegal alien, public safety threats to the streets every day,” Mr. Homan added. “That’s where the problem is.”

Mr. Homan confirmed that the National Guard could very well be used as part of the president’s deportation plans at Chicago this coming week, though it would be for administrative, processing, and protective purposes rather than actual law enforcement operations. 

“National Guard are always on the table,” he said. “They’re a force multiplier. Now, do they arrest illegal aliens? No. ICE officers, Border Patrol agents who have Title Eight authority arrest illegal criminal aliens.”

“The National Guard does provide protection for us. It does provide us infrastructure, provides us transportation, provides us additional processing capability that allows the ones through immigration authority — the badge and guns on the street — [to] continue arresting the bad guys,” Mr. Homan added.