MONTGOMERY, Ala. Alabama officials released new enforcement numbers Wednesday showing a sharp expansion of the state’s commercial-vehicle partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency now reporting that it has assisted ICE with the detention of 561 people for immigration violations encountered during commercial motor vehicle enforcement activities.
The figures were released Sept. 2 by Gov. Kay Ivey’s office as Alabama publicly backed the federal government’s newly announced crackdown on fraud, improper licensing, unauthorized employment and other illegal activity in the commercial trucking industry.
Alabama also reported that its Motor Carrier Safety Unit has issued 1,022 English-language-proficiency violations to commercial drivers since Jan. 1, 2025. Those numbers represent one of the clearest state-level snapshots yet of how aggressively English-language and immigration-related enforcement has expanded around commercial vehicles.
The latest figures are substantially higher than numbers Alabama released earlier this year. On March 11, Ivey’s office reported that 221 people had been detained by ICE following referrals from Alabama commercial-vehicle enforcement activity and that state troopers had issued 548 English-language-proficiency violations since the beginning of 2025.
That earlier announcement followed a much smaller initial enforcement period. In December 2025, Alabama said 82 people had been detained by ICE after being encountered during commercial motor vehicle inspections, with most of those detentions occurring during two targeted enforcement operations in October and November.
The new Sept. 2 figures indicate that immigration screening has since become increasingly integrated into routine commercial-vehicle enforcement. Alabama said ICE personnel have participated in ALEA commercial-vehicle enforcement assignments when agents are available.
The governor’s office said the 561 detentions involve people encountered during commercial motor vehicle enforcement activities who were subsequently detained by ICE for immigration violations. The state did not say that all 561 individuals were truck drivers, CDL holders or operating commercial vehicles at the moment they were detained, and the announcement did not provide a case-by-case breakdown.
That distinction is important. The state’s figures establish the number of immigration detentions connected to commercial-vehicle enforcement encounters, but they do not establish that every person detained possessed a CDL or was actively driving a truck.
Alabama’s announcement comes two days after Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and federal prosecutors announced a broader national trucking-fraud campaign.
The Aug. 31 federal initiative includes the new Joint Task Force Crossroads of America, a multi-agency effort initially involving Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Federal authorities also announced the emergency removal of more than 110 Entry-Level Driver Training providers, a nationwide audit of third-party CDL skills testers and coordinated Homeland Security investigations involving trucking schools, carriers and employers.
Federal officials said the investigation is looking beyond individual drivers and into potential CDL fraud, unauthorized employment, identity-document fraud, financial crime, labor exploitation, money laundering and possible connections to human smuggling and drug trafficking.
Duffy said the government intends to examine the entire system surrounding questionable commercial drivers, saying federal agencies would “tackle every link in the chain.”
Alabama’s enforcement program predates the new federal task force.
The partnership between ALEA’s Motor Carrier Safety Unit and ICE began Oct. 27, 2025. Under that arrangement, immigration authorities can become involved when individuals encountered during commercial-vehicle enforcement raise questions concerning immigration status or work authorization.
At the same time, Alabama troopers have continued enforcing the federal requirement that commercial drivers possess sufficient English-language proficiency to communicate with officials, understand traffic signs and signals and complete required records.
Ivey’s office reported Wednesday that Alabama troopers have issued 1,022 ELP violations since Jan. 1, 2025.
The enforcement effort will soon be backed by additional state law.
Alabama’s Highway Safety and Fairness Act, signed by Ivey on March 11, takes effect Oct. 1, 2026. The law requires foreign CDL holders operating in Alabama to possess valid United States work authorization, requires CDL holders to demonstrate English-language proficiency and creates a criminal offense for presenting a fraudulent foreign CDL during an enforcement encounter.
“Alabama did not wait for this issue to resolve itself,” Ivey said in Wednesday’s announcement.
State officials are also tying the enforcement campaign to a decline in commercial-vehicle fatalities, although the available figures do not by themselves establish that the enforcement program caused the reduction.
Alabama reported 106 fatalities involving commercial motor vehicles in 2025, its lowest annual total since 2021. The governor’s office said CMV-related fatalities in 2026 are currently 24 percent lower than during the comparable period in 2025.
ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor said state troopers are concentrating enforcement resources in high-crash corridors and locations where commercial-vehicle violations are frequently identified.
The state says those efforts have coincided with reductions in commercial-vehicle crashes in some targeted corridors. However, crash trends can be affected by numerous factors, including traffic volume, weather, freight activity, roadway conditions and enforcement intensity, so the decline should not be attributed solely to immigration or English-language enforcement without additional analysis.
What is clear is that Alabama’s partnership with ICE has grown significantly since its launch less than a year ago.
The original December announcement involved 82 immigration detentions. By March, the number had reached 221. Alabama now says 561 immigration detentions have resulted from encounters connected to commercial-vehicle enforcement since Oct. 27, 2025, while English-language-proficiency violations have surpassed 1,000.
Those figures arrive as federal officials are attempting to replicate a more coordinated enforcement model nationally, combining roadside commercial-vehicle enforcement with immigration authorities, FMCSA oversight and federal criminal investigations.
For trucking companies and drivers operating through Alabama, the next major date is Oct. 1, when the state’s new Highway Safety and Fairness Act formally takes effect.
