Did Hyundai make an announcement that it was canceling its $4 billion EV battery plant in Georgia after the raid where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained 475 workers on September 4, 2025? No, that’s not true: There is no impact to Hyundai’s U.S. vehicle manufacturing operations following the ICE raid a company spokesperson told Lead Stories. Hyundai’s president and CEO spoke to reporters on September 11, 2025, and said there would be a two-to-three-month delay in the startup of the battery manufacturing joint venture but did not say the company was cancelling that plant. Hyundai said it was continuing to invest in American manufacturing and creating thousands of jobs in a statement on its website after the raid. There have been no actual news reports about Hyundai cancelling the project.
The claim appeared in a September 10, 2025 post on X.com (archived here) where it was published on the @Christo12919382 account with caption, “Trump’s America folks…#ETTD“. It opened with an image of the plant with the text:
Hyundai Announces It Is Cancelling Plans To Complete 4 Billion Dollar Plant in Georgia Due To ICE Raid
This is what the image looked like on X.com at the time of writing:
Source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at X.com/Christo12919382.
The image in the post on X appears to be a screenshot of a video posted on the TikTok account @garebearboomer (archived here) on September 10, 2025. That post included audio of the song You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones.
The rumor began after the September 4, 2025, raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Hyundai manufacturing plant in Ellabell, Georgia. Of the 475 people who were detained, most of them were South Korean nationals, and more than 300 were heading home as of September 11, 2025, according to CBS News (archived here).
Lead Stories reached out to Hyundai for a comment on the claim that the company was cancelling the plant.
Hyundai spokesperson Ira Gabriel responded via email on September 11, 2025, and said “There is no impact to Hyundai’s U.S. vehicle manufacturing operations.” He pointed to remarks Hyundai President and CEO
José Muñoz gave to reporters on September 11, 2025, while attending an automotive conference in Detroit, where he reportedly said the company is facing a “minimum startup delay of two to three months,” but not a cancellation.
According to a report on Yahoo! News (archived here), Muñoz spoke publicly for the first time since the raid. He spoke about why the company used specialized people during construction of the Georgia plant and how the company is moving forward following the ICE raid:
“For the construction phase of the plants, you need to get specialized people. There are a lot of skills and equipment that you cannot find in the United States,” Muñoz said, on the sidelines of an automotive conference in Detroit.
Muñoz said Hyundai will source batteries from other plants as it waits for the LG plant to start up, including from a Georgia plant co-owned with Korean battery-maker SK On.
The company posted a statement about the raid on their website on September. 5, 2025, (archived here) and did not mention canceling the project or closing the plant. It said they were continuing the investment in the property:
As we continue to invest in American manufacturing and create thousands of jobs, we will do so in full accordance with U.S. law and in a manner that reflects our values of treating all people with dignity and respect.
The raid occurred at the construction site on the Hyundai property for HL-GA Battery Company, which is a Hyundai partnership with LG Energy Solution. HL-GA said in a statement that it was pausing construction at the site after the raid, as the Associated Press reported (archived here) September. 4, 2025. As of September 11, 2025, HL-GA has not announced the cancellation of the plant. Lead Stories reached out to HL-GA for comment and will update the story when a response is received.
Had Hyundai announced cancellation of the plant in Georgia following the ICE raid, it would have been national and international news. A Google search (archived here) found no actual news reports of the plant operations being cancelled. Similarly, the Yahoo! News index of partner news sites and news services (archived here) showed no legitimate news reports that Hyundai had cancelled the Georgia project.
