by Cindy Gonzalez and Juan Salinas II, Florida Phoenix
August 20, 2025

LINCOLN, Nebraska — This state’s version of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” federal immigration detention center is being created in the roughly 7,500-resident city of McCook, Gov. Jim Pillen confirmed.

His announcement Tuesday was part of a multi-pronged push to support the Trump administration and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s ramped-up approach to deportation.

“We want President Trump to know that Nebraska is supportive and grateful for his ongoing, critical work with Secretary Noem to arrest and deport” migrants who commit crimes, Pillen said in a statement.

Sparks criticism

He said the assistance Nebraska offered to the Trump administration from the state and its law enforcement agencies was about “keeping Nebraskans and Americans across our country safe.”

Others, including some Nebraska lawmakers, criticized the state’s participation.

State Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha, whose district includes the food plant where a high-profile immigration raid on June 10 arrested 76 undocumented workers, said she was furious at the prospect of Nebraska becoming a home to a facility modeled after Alligator Alcatraz, the name given by Florida Republicans to an Everglades detention center.

She pledged protests all over the state, adding: “I don’t feel that’s an appropriate way for the immigrants to be treated. I’m pissed.”

State Sen. Dunixi Guereca of Omaha said the Governor’s Office had not shared details with him, including the type of funds or labor force numbers involved. Guereca said he saw better uses for the funds, wherever they might originate.

“We need to focus on building a stronger Nebraska for all,” he said. “Instead we’re ripping families apart and wreaking terror and havoc on a hard-working community that just wants to provide a better life for the next generation of Nebraskans.”

No state expense

State Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood, chair of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, said he was privy to a quick briefing on the state’s immigration enforcement efforts. He said he learned the federal government will fully reimburse Nebraska for costs, with reimbursement rates anticipated to exceed the daily costs.

Costs wouldn’t be passed on to Nebraskans, he said, adding that it’s still too early to quantify any potential savings through reduced state spending.

“I’m supportive of the president enforcing the law,” Clements said.

He said he was told the facility was to be used for low- to medium-security risk detainees.

“I was pleased that the McCook people wouldn’t be exposed to a higher level of security than what they currently have,” Clements added.

State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, who represents the McCook area, told the Examiner he was informed about the ICE plans “as soon as the governor knew.”

Murman said the people in his district are “generally in support of what the president is doing,” but said he figures some people “have some concerns.”

“President Trump does move quickly on everything he does. … He’s moving quickly to get his policies in place,” Murman said. “And that includes what he’s doing out here with the facility in McCook.”

A Homeland Security news release labeled the facility the “Cornhusker Clink” and said it would house criminal ICE detainees — “the worst of the worst.”

“This agreement was made possible by the One Big Beautiful Bill,” the statement said. “This law fully funded the 287(g) program and provided funding to secure 80,000 new beds for ICE to utilize when detaining and deporting the worst of the worst.”

It went on to say: “Thanks to Governor Pillen for his partnership …. If you are in America illegally … Avoid arrest and self deport now using the CBP Home App.”

Midwestern hub for ICE

Nebraska’s Correctional Services Director Rob Jeffreys, in a news conference at the Capitol, said the facility won’t house the “worst of the worst” but would be used for detainees at the “low level and medium.”

Jeffreys said the facility would be the Midwestern hub for ICE. He added that the nearby McCook Ben Nelson Airport could be used for deportations, but the logistics are still being worked out.

A handful of protesters gathered outside of the press conference that included Jeffreys, Nebraska State Patrol Superintendent Bryan Waugh, and Nebraska National Guard Maj. Gen. Craig Strong.

“It’s incredibly frustrating that no matter how much it looks like people are saying, ‘Stop’ — no one actually in power is doing what needs to be done and stopping it,” said Jaci Vetro, a Lincoln resident.

Nebraska U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., said he views the move as a way to support the local community and keep jobs in McCook. “I support President Trump’s actions to protect our communities and Gov. Pillen’s work to bring DHS investment to Nebraska,” Ricketts said in a statement.

The Homeland Security statement said that the Nebraska facility marks the third state partnership to expand ICE detention space “following Alligator Alcatraz and Speedway Slammer.”

Speedway Slammer is their nickname for ICE’s new facility in Bunker Hill, Indiana, referencing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is about 75 miles away.

More partnerships

In addition to the McCook center, Pillen announced two other state-federal partnerships with Homeland Security.

For one, the Nebraska National Guard will provide about 20 soldiers to help Nebraska-based ICE agents carry out their duties. Training is to begin within the next week.

Also at Pillen’s direction, the Nebraska State Patrol announced it would sign a 287(g) agreement that empowers state troopers to help ICE arrest migrants in the country without authorization who break the law.

So named for its section of immigration law, the often-controversial program delegates state and local law enforcement officers authority to perform immigration officer functions under the federal agency’s direction and oversight.

Pillen turned to an arrest earlier this summer in Omaha when Nebraska law enforcement agents worked with ICE to arrest a person ICE described as a “drug-trafficking kingpin and murderer.”

“This stuff hits close to home — and hits every corner of this state and country,” he said. “Government’s most important job is to keep us safe, and that’s why the State of Nebraska, under my leadership, is partnering with President Trump.”

Three Nebraska county sheriff’s offices are authorized for the 287(g) program — Brown, Dakota and Wheeler.

280 beds

The Homeland Security and Pillen confirmations of the Nebraska ICE facility revealed that the existing Work Ethic Camp in McCook would be converted and provide capacity for 300 migrants. It was built to house up to 200 people in a medium-security facility operated by the Nebraska state prison system.

Pillen, who also held a press conference in McCook, and was greeted by a group of anti-ICE protesters, said that about 85 workers employed by the Corrections Department at the Work Ethic Camp would remain under the contract arrangement that pays the state.

He said migrants held at the facility would likely be there five to 50 days and that there would be “a lot of activity” at the nearby airport removing people from the United States.

Gene Weedin, a McCook City Council member, said he was still learning details and forming an opinion about the center coming to his city. Nebraska owns nearly 45 acres at the McCook site.

Weedin said Pillen was in McCook with Corrections Director Jeffreys over the weekend talking to various local officials. Weedin’s understanding is that the state prison facility would stop operating in its current form, start functioning as the federal immigration detention facility, and that those now in the facility would be transferred to other places.

He said the people housed at the center have contributed to the community by picking up trash, putting up annual Christmas decorations, and doing other public service.

“There are just a lot of questions,” said Weedin.

Staffing shortage

Nebraska has historically struggled to hire enough staff to use the McCook center as it was originally intended, to reform younger men who’ve committed crimes by assigning them jobs and tasks. The camp focuses its counseling and other efforts on encouraging behavior changes to reduce recidivism.

It is the least crowded of Nebraska’s overcrowded adult prison facilities, running a daily census of about 184 in Fiscal Year 2025. But it is also one of the prison facilities with the greatest need for additional staffing. The department’s census says it was staffed to house an average of about 125 people in FY 2025.

State Sen. Terrell McKinney of North Omaha said on social media that Nebraska “prisons are already overcrowded and inhumane. “

“And our state faces a budget crisis. We cannot afford this,” he said.

Cristine Schwartz, the public information officer at the McCook Work Ethic Camp, referred calls to a state Correctional Services spokeswoman, who did not immediately return calls.

State Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner, who represents part of west-central Nebraska outside of McCook, said she only just learned about the ICE effort and was “still gathering more information.”

The state has been working around the Douglas County Jail in Omaha no longer actively participating in ICE detentions. Detainees from eastern Nebraska have been sent to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and as far away as the Lincoln County Jail in North Platte — where the 76 workers arrested in the high-profile immigration raid at Omaha’s Glenn Valley plant were transported. Many are still there.

Other ICE contracts

ICE also plans to contract with jails in eastern Nebraska’s Sarpy and Cass counties for 30 beds each and the Washington County Jail for 15, according to ICE documents the Washington Post obtained.

Pillen’s announcement is apparently Nebraska’s contribution to a plan that the federal documents showed would open or expand 125 immigration detention facilities this year.

In its detention expansion strategy, the Trump administration has revived other dormant prisons, repurposed military bases and secured partnerships with private prison contractors, local sheriffs and Republican governors to house its record number of detainees, the Post reported.

By January, the documents indicate, ICE would have capacity to hold more than 107,000 people, up from close to 50,000 now. The documents, last updated July 30, reflected ICE intentions to rely increasingly on makeshift “soft-sided” structures that could be built in a few weeks and taken down as easily. The government also plans to make more room for detaining parents and children.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska is among critics of the Pillen plan, calling it “a new low point and way out of step with where most Nebraskans are on this issue.”

“Imagine hearing about the cruel rights violations happening in other states’ ICE detention sites and thinking that we need our own heartland horror,” said Mindy Rush Chipman, executive director of ACLU Nebraska.

Nebraska Democratic Party officials described creation of the detention facility in McCook as a “bend the knee” moment by top Republicans in Nebraska, and the governor’s participation as disgusting.

“They promised to go after criminals and instead have locked up hardworking moms and dads who contribute their skills to our agricultural economy,” said Jane Kleeb, state party chair. “Creating fear and division … does not have to be the Cornhusker way.”

Nebraska Appleseed called the governor’s cooperation part of a “harmful, dangerous and rapid expansion” of detainment camps that “repeat a deeply ugly pattern of history.”

Darcy Tromanhauser, the advocacy agency’s immigrants and communities program director, urged officials instead to update immigration laws.

“Nebraskans want policy change, not punishment,” she said.

Earlier this month, Noem revealed in an interview with CBS News that Nebraska was being considered as a home to one of the state-run, federally funded migrant detention centers that the Trump administration hoped to launch across the country in the likeness of the one dubbed Alligator Alcatraz.

Noem said she had already appealed to governors and state leaders. Strimple acknowledged the possibility at the time, saying the governor would “make details public at the appropriate time.”

This story first appeared in the Nebraska Examiner, a member with the Phoenix in the nonprofit States Newsroom. Examiner Editor-in-chief Aaron Sanderford and Reporter Zach Wendling contributed to this report.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

The post Next federal immigration detention center headed to Nebraska appeared first on floridaphoenix.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

The content presents a generally supportive view of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies and Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities. It highlights statements from Republican officials endorsing the detention facility and immigration enforcement efforts, while also including criticism from Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups. The article maintains a factual tone but leans toward a perspective that prioritizes law enforcement and border security, reflecting a center-right stance on immigration issues.