Nebraska plan for an immigrant detention center faces backlash and
uncertainty
[September 13, 2025]
By MARGERY A. BECK
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — No formal agreement has been signed to convert a
remote state prison in Nebraska into the latest immigration detention
center for President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown, more than three
weeks since the governor announced the plan and as lawmakers and nearby
residents grow increasingly skeptical.
Corrections officials insist the facility could start housing hundreds
of male detainees next month, with classrooms and other spaces at the
McCook Work Ethic Camp retrofitted for beds. However, lawmakers briefed
last week by state officials said they got few concrete answers about
cost, staffing and oversight.
“There was more unanswered questions than answered questions in terms of
what they know,” state Sen. Wendy DeBoer said.
City leaders taken by surprise
Officials in the city of McCook were caught off guard in mid-August when
Republican Gov. Jim Pillen announced that the minimum-security prison in
rural southwest Nebraska would serve as a Midwest hub for immigration
detainees. Pillen and federal officials dubbed it the “Cornhusker
Clink," in line with other alliterative detention centers such as “
Alligator Alcatraz ” in Florida and the “ Speedway Slammer ” in Indiana.
“City leaders were given absolutely no choice in the matter,” said Mike
O’Dell, publisher of the local newspaper, the McCook Gazette.
McCook is the seat of Red Willow County where voters favored Trump in
the 2024 election by nearly 80%. Most of them likely support the
president's immigration crackdown, O'Dell said. However, the city of
around 7,000 has also grown accustomed to the camp's low-level offenders
working on roads, in parks, county and city offices and even local
schools.
“People here have gotten to know them in many cases,” O'Dell said. “I
think there is a feeling here that people want to know where these folks
are going to end up and that they'll be OK.”
The state of the facility now
The Work Ethic Camp first opened in 2001 and currently houses around 155
inmates who participate in education, treatment and work programs to
help them transition to life outside prison. State leaders often praise
it as a success story for reducing prisoner recidivism.
Some lawmakers have complained that Pillen acted rashly, noting that the
state's prison system is already one of the nation's most overcrowded
and perpetually understaffed. The governor's office and state prison
officials met with members of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee last
week to answer questions about the transfer.
What the lawmakers got, several said, were estimates and speculation.
Lawmakers were told it was the governor's office that approached federal
officials with the offer after Trump “made a generalized, widespread
call that we need more room or something for detainees,” said DeBoer, a
Democrat in the officially nonpartisan Legislature.
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The McCook Work Ethic Camp is seen in McCook, Neb., on Aug. 20,
2025. (Brigham Larington/McCook Gazette via AP)
Lawmakers were also told the facility — which was designed to house
around 100 but is currently outfitted to hold twice that — would
house between 200 and 300 detainees. The prison's current staff of
97 is to be retrained and stay on.
The costs of the transition would be borne by the state, with the
expectation that the federal government would reimburse that cost,
DeBoer recalled.
A formal agreement between the state and federal agency had yet to
be signed by Friday.
Asked how much the state is anticipated to spend on the conversion,
the agency said "that number has not yet been determined," but that
any state expenditures would be reimbursed. The state plans to hire
additional staffers for the center, it said.
Lawmakers question the move
A letter signed by 13 lawmakers called into question whether Pillen
had the authority to unilaterally transfer use of a state prison to
federal authorities without legislative approval.
To that end, state Sen. Terrell McKinney — chairman of the
Legislature's Urban Affairs Committee and a vocal critic of
Nebraska's overcrowded prison system — convened a public hearing
Friday to seek answers from Pillen's office and state corrections
officials, citing concerns over building code violations that fall
under the committee's purview.
"How can you take a facility that was built for 125 people and take
that to a capacity of 200 to 300 people without creating, you know,
a security risk?” McKinney asked.
Pillen maintains state law gives him the authority to make the move,
saying the Department of Correctional Services falls under the
umbrella of the executive branch. He and state prison officials
declined to show up at Friday's hearing.
But dozens of Nebraska residents did attend, with most of them
opposed to the new ICE detention center.
Pillen's office said in an email that McCook's mayor and the local
sheriff were informed of the plan after “it became apparent that the
Department of Homeland Security was committed to pursuing an
agreement." It also defended Pillen's actions, saying he has been a
staunch supporter of border security.
“The opportunity to support President Trump and the Department of
Homeland Security’s initiative to protect U.S. citizens, and provide
a place for the detention of criminal illegal aliens, is an
extension of those efforts,” Pillen spokesperson Laura Strimple
said.
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