Ivey backs federal trucking crackdown, cites Alabama enforcement

Governor Kay Ivey on Wednesday backed a new federal trucking enforcement push and said Alabama is already helping set the standard, according to a Sept. 2, 2026 press release from her office.

The release says the Trump Administration announced on Monday what it called its most aggressive interagency trucking enforcement effort to date. The coordinated effort involves the U.S. Department of Transportation, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice, and it targets fraudulent commercial driver training and testing practices, illegal commercial operators and criminal activity within trucking.

The administration also established the Joint Task Force Crossroads of America, described in the release as a multistate partnership focused on fraudulent commercial-driver licensing, illegal trucking operations and related criminal activity.

Ivey said Alabama has been working on the same issues through the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Motor Carrier Safety Unit, its partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and state standards for commercial driver licenses.

“President Trump and Secretary Duffy are taking decisive action to restore law, order and accountability to America’s trucking industry, and we are proud to help lead that effort,” Ivey said. She added that people who are in the country illegally, cannot speak English or are otherwise unqualified have no business operating an 80,000-pound commercial vehicle.

The release says the partnership between ALEA and ICE began on October 27, 2025. Since then, ICE personnel have joined ALEA’s routine commercial-vehicle enforcement assignments when available.

Alabama says that since October 27, 2025, ALEA’s Motor Carrier Safety Unit has assisted ICE with the detention of 561 individuals for immigration violations encountered during commercial motor vehicle enforcement activities.

The release also says ALEA has focused on English Language Proficiency requirements for commercial motor vehicle drivers. Since January 1, 2025, Motor Carrier Safety Unit troopers have issued 1,022 ELP violations to commercial drivers.

In March, Ivey signed the Highway Safety and Fairness Act. The release says the law requires foreign CDL holders operating in Alabama to possess valid United States work authorization, requires all CDL holders to demonstrate English-language proficiency, and makes presenting a fraudulent foreign CDL during an enforcement encounter a criminal offense. The law takes effect October 1, 2026.

The Alabama Trucking Association’s Mark Colson said the state’s trucking industry is built on family-owned businesses, independent owner-operators and professional drivers who play by the rules. He said bad actors who exploit loopholes in regulatory systems are putting everyone at risk.

ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor said commercial motor vehicle safety is about more than an inspection or citation, and said the agency has used targeted enforcement, federal partnerships and its Motor Carrier Safety Unit. The release says ALEA has deployed enforcement resources to high-crash corridors and has observed reductions in CMV-related crashes in specific corridors where those efforts have been concentrated.

The release says Alabama recorded 106 fatalities involving CMVs in 2025, the lowest annual total since 2021. So far in 2026, the state is seeing a 24 percent reduction in CMV-involved fatalities compared with the same period last year.

The release also says Alabama does not issue non-domiciled CDLs and only issues CDL licenses to lawful permanent residents.