Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducting operations today in Franklin County

Agents from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with assistance from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) are in Franklin County today and have detained multiple individuals, the Franklin Free Press has learned.

According to a source, ICE’s efforts so far have been focused in the vicinity of two Russellville area industries, Pilgrim’s Pride Inc., and Southern Homes (a/k/a Clayton Homes).

Sources have told the FFP that federal agents set up roadblocks around the facilities where identification checkpoints were conducted. The source further said agents had not raided either of the companies’ plants as of Wednesday morning. The checkpoints coincide with end of shift/start of shift times at the facilities, when a large concentration of motorists on nearby roads are employees coming to or from work.

It is not yet known how many individuals were taken into custody or what, if any, additional Franklin County locations may be involved in the agency’s operation.

Enhanced ICE enforcement and detaining of individuals who are in the United States illegally, or whose legal status has expired, has increased significantly since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025. This comes after a four-year President Joe Biden administration, which was perceived as being soft on immigration enforcement by some critics.

According to a CNN article quoting a HSI official, nearly 200,000 people have been deported in the first seven months of the Trump administration.

Last week, a Hyundai plant in Ellabell, Ga., saw ICE agents detain more than 300 individuals, most of whom were South Koreans.

While regular rumors of ICE agents in Franklin County have surfaced over the past seven months, today’s operations mark the first time the FFP was able to confirm the agency’s presence locally.

Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said federal agents contacted his office early Wednesday morning about ICE coming to Franklin County but his agency was not asked to participate, nor have deputies participated in, Wednesday’s operation.

Oliver said his office primarily works with ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) out of the agency’s Huntsville office and he describes that as a ‘healthy working relationship.’

Oliver said his understanding was agents in today’s efforts are not based out of the Huntsville office.