SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS
MOBILE, Ala. — Alabama law enforcement is arresting undocumented immigrants at a dramatically higher rate in 2025—part of a national push under President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda and a growing network of local-federal enforcement partnerships.
As of June 26, 1,947 immigrants had been detained across the state—on pace to double the 1,823 total arrests in 2024, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data reviewed by SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS.
“Under the new administration, there’s just simply been more resources allocated towards the overall immigration program,” said Huey “Hoss” Mack, president of the Alabama Sheriffs Association.
While ICE claims to be focusing on undocumented individuals with criminal records, the data shows an increasing share of arrests involve non-criminal immigration violations—both in Alabama and nationwide.
Of those detained this year in Alabama:
• 1,095 had pending criminal charges
• 596 had prior convictions
• The majority were men, and a large number had no criminal record beyond immigration status violations.
Local Deputies as “Mini-Immigration Officers”
Much of the surge is being driven by the expansion of 287(g) partnerships—a federal program allowing local deputies to act as immigration agents. Alabama now has 13 counties and one municipality (Level Plains) enrolled.
“We want to make one of your deputies, and maybe more of them, mini-immigration officers,” Chris Cannon, ICE assistant field office director in New Orleans, told officers during a recent sheriff’s conference in Orange Beach.
With only 25 ICE staff spread across four offices in Alabama, Cannon said federal officials rely heavily on local help. The Trump administration has set a daily quota of 3,000 arrests nationwide and plans to hire 10,000 new agents while expanding ICE’s budget from $8 billion to $28 billion.
Raids, Removals, and Rising Deportations
This month, ICE conducted raids in six Alabama counties, arresting 40 individuals in connection to a federal money laundering and human smuggling investigation. Advocates say enforcement has expanded beyond serious crimes.
Immigration attorney Freddy Rubio criticized the focus:
“If they wanted even bigger numbers, go to north Alabama to the chicken processing plants. In one day, they could round up more than 1,700 undocumented workers.”
So far in 2025, Alabama authorities have carried out 1,430 removals, including:
• 352 deportations
• 87 voluntary departures
• 30 removals to countries other than the individual’s citizenship (mostly Venezuelans sent to Guatemala or Mexico)
Mexican nationals made up the largest share of arrests (853 cases), followed by Guatemalans. Detainees also came from Romania, Jamaica, Laos, India, and Venezuela, among other nations.
The Trump administration’s reversal of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans earlier this year led to more removals, despite ongoing humanitarian concerns in that country.
Legal Access & Criticism
Access to legal representation remains a major challenge: only 24% of immigrants in Alabama immigration courts have lawyers, according to a Syracuse University analysis.
Rubio argued that ICE’s claim of prioritizing serious criminals is misleading:
“They may not have a ‘criminal history’ as what you would normally think of, but immigration law treats reentry as a felony. Even a traffic stop becomes a gateway.”
Mack defended enforcement practices, noting that many of those detained had previously reentered the country illegally or faced felony charges like theft or robbery:
“They may not have a violent record, but they have an immigration criminal history.”
Still, Rubio said the surge in arrests points to deeper systemic failures:
“The story that the numbers tell is that the administration is overwhelmed. You need agents. You need beds. You need due process. None of this scales easily.”
What’s Ahead
With 2025 shaping up as a record-breaking year for immigration enforcement in Alabama, debate is intensifying over the role local law enforcement should play—and whether targeting workers, rather than employers, is solving the deeper crisis.
