South Korean Workers Begin Returning To U.S. After ICE Raid – Jalopnik

Happy Thursday! It’s October 2, 2025, and that is The Morning Shift — your every day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from world wide, in a single place. This is the place you may discover crucial tales which might be shaping the way in which Americans drive and get round.

In this morning’s version, we’re trying on the return of LG’s South Korean staff to the U.S., in addition to GM’s newest employee furlough. We’ll additionally take a look at Elon Musk’s incomprehensible and ever-increasing wealth, and Rivian’s excellent fiscal quarter. 

Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained 300 South Korean staff at a Hyundai/LG battery plant in Georgia. Those staff shortly and understandably acquired the hell out of Dodge, however it appears they’re now allowed again within the nation. From Bloomberg: 

LG Energy Solution Ltd. will begin sending staff from South Korea again to the US for important enterprise journeys lower than a month after lots of of staff have been detained in a visa crackdown.

Trips will restart after the Chuseok vacation, which wraps up on the finish of subsequent week, LG Energy mentioned in an announcement Thursday.

“This decision follows confirmation from the US-Korea working group that holders of short-term commercial (B-1) visas and Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) are permitted to perform equipment installation, inspection, and maintenance at our US factories,” the assertion mentioned.

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On Tuesday, Washington and Seoul held an inaugural assembly of their Business Travel and Visa working group in Washington as a part of efforts to determine readability within the US work visa system. Most of the detained staff have been on B-1 visas or beneath a 90-day visa waiver program generally known as ESTA, which does not permit for employment however which additionally does not make clear the scope of enterprise allowed.

During the assembly, the US reaffirmed that South Korean firms can use B-1 visas and ESTA for set up, service and restore of kit, and the 2 international locations agreed to launch a Korea investor desk on the US embassy in Seoul to deal with employment points, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry mentioned.

Of course, the employees all had visas once they have been detained, and that did not cease ICE from cuffing first and asking questions later. It stays to be seen what number of of these Hyundai/LG staff even have any curiosity in setting foot on U.S. soil as soon as once more. I’d guess only a few need to come again. 

General Motors has been retooling its Fairfax Assembly manufacturing unit in Kansas to supply the Chevy Bolt and Equinox, with the promise to staff that the manufacturing unit would spin up manufacturing fairly quickly. Now, GM is strolling again that promise, and ready to see what demand appears like earlier than it provides a second shift — leaving 900 staff out within the chilly. From the Detroit Free Press: 

General Motors is putting 900 staff on indefinite layoff at its the Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas, the corporate advised the Detroit Free Press on Oct. 1, because it retools the plant for manufacturing of the gas-powered Equinox. Those staff have been positioned on non permanent layoff as of Sept. 4.

Employees with the best seniority could have the chance to return sooner because the plant gears up for manufacturing of the brand new Chevrolet Bolt. GM mentioned there’s not a present timeframe for when that return would happen or what number of staff will probably be wanted to fulfill these manufacturing wants.

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Fairfax Assembly, in Kansas City, Kansas, which ended manufacturing earlier this 12 months of the Cadillac XT4 and the Chevrolet Malibu, mentioned on Sept. 4 that it’s now not instantly planning so as to add a second shift as soon as development ramps up for the Bolt.

I’m positive the United Auto Workers could have one thing to say about this indefinite furlough, and it most likely will not be wildly enthusiastic. Generally unions like their members to maintain getting paid. 

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is the world’s richest particular person. He is unfathomably rich, and simply yesterday his web price crested $500 billion. That’s $500,000,000,000, in case you wished to depend the zeroes. From Reuters: 

Elon Musk on Wednesday grew to become the primary particular person to surpass $500 billion in web price, powered by a rebound in Tesla’s share worth this 12 months and swelling valuations of his different tech ventures.

The milestone comes just below a 12 months after Musk’s web price crossed $400 billion and underscores his lead because the world’s richest particular person.

Musk’s fortune briefly hit $500 billion on Wednesday, earlier than settling at $499.1 billion at 5 p.m. ET, in response to Forbes’ billionaires index.

His wealth is tied carefully to his about 12% stake in Tesla, the world’s most useful automaker. The electric-vehicle maker’s inventory has climbed about 14% to this point this 12 months after a uneven begin.

Remember that point Musk promised to finish world starvation if anybody might give him a plan that value $6 billion, solely to then flip round and easily not do this? Remember that once you purchase a Tesla, spend your money at a Supercharger, or pay for a subscription service or restore, that is the place your cash goes. 

Rivian has been — and that is an business time period — going by it not too long ago. The firm makes automobiles which might be merely unbelievable, however it by no means appears to be sufficient to maintain the corporate in good monetary standing. Last quarter, Rivian rode the tax-credit-expiry panic-buying to unexpectedly excessive gross sales, however even that is not sufficient to spice up its annual gross sales estimates for 2025 within the face of the Trump administration. From Reuters: 

Rivian Automotive lowered the midpoint of its annual deliveries forecast vary on Thursday because the EV-maker braces for an unsure few quarters because of the lapse of federal tax credit, sending its shares down greater than 7% in early buying and selling.

Despite reporting an almost 32% soar in deliveries, Rivian and the electric-vehicle business face a cloudy outlook after the U.S. Congress, by sweeping laws, moved to abolish a $7,500 tax credit score on leasing that EV makers had lengthy relied on to bolster gross sales.

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The firm delivered 13,201 autos within the third quarter, in contrast with an estimate of 12,690 autos, in response to analysts polled by Visible Alpha.

I really hope that Rivian could make this work, as a result of I need the corporate to succeed. Cars this good deserve an actual shot on the planet, and I’m all the time excited to see a Rivian out on the streets. 

Happy birthday to Jalopnik’s resident child, Andy. Your current is that I’m posting this picture reasonably than any of the Joker edits. 

Another that is on the true, literal radio. Thanks, Eva Walker.