Nebraska Republican Gov. Jim Pillen introduced plans Tuesday for an immigration detention middle in a farming space within the state’s southwest nook as President Trump’s administration races to broaden the infrastructure needed for rising deportations.
Pillen mentioned he and Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem had agreed to make use of an present minimal safety jail work camp in rural McCook to accommodate folks awaiting deportation and being held for different immigration proceedings.
The brand new facility was dubbed the “Cornhusker Clink” final week by Rob Jeffreys, director of the Nebraska Division of Correctional Companies. It could accommodate 200 folks with plans to broaden to 300. McCook is about 210 miles west of Lincoln, the state capital.
“This is about keeping Nebraskans – and Americans across our country – safe,” Pillen mentioned in a press release.
Pillen introduced he would order the Nebraska Nationwide Guard to supply administrative and logistical assist to Nebraska-based immigration brokers. About 20 Guard troopers will likely be concerned.
Emily Pietrzak holds an indication that reads “ICE=Gestapo” as different protesters collect outdoors the Nebraska governor’s workplace in Lincoln, Neb., Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. “I believe our government is hurting people who live in our country and I think we should stand up for each other,” she mentioned.
Josh Funk / AP
He additionally mentioned the Nebraska State Patrol would signal an settlement that permits troopers to assist federal immigration brokers make arrests.
Jeffreys mentioned the 186 folks at present at McCook will likely be transferred to different state corrections amenities so the camp might be repurposed.
The power will likely be run by the state of Nebraska however will likely be paid for by the federal authorities. All of the folks anticipated to be held there will likely be low to medium-risk detainees, Jeffreys mentioned.
Jeffreys estimated it is going to take 45 to 60 days to relocate all the present McCook inhabitants whereas a jail in Lincoln is present process repairs from current storm injury. It wasn’t instantly clear how shortly ICE may begin sending detainees to McCook.
However Jeffreys mentioned it’s already set as much as home folks, so detainees received’t be housed in tents or different short-term quarters. “That facility has already been accredited. It’s ready in the event that we are to move our folks out and move detainees in,” he mentioned.
“Thanks to Governor Pillen for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country,” Noem mentioned in a press release Tuesday. “If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Nebraska’s Cornhusker Clink. Avoid arrest and self deport now using the CBP Home App.”
The Nebraska plan has already raised issues.
She urged folks to assist native immigrant rights teams, and mentioned any response by the Legislature wouldn’t come till subsequent 12 months — and solely with sufficient assist from lawmakers.
“The No. 1 thing we need to do is protect our neighbors, protect the people in our communities who are being targeted by these horrible people, these horrible organizations that are making choices to lock up, detain, disappear our neighbors and families and friends,” Hunt mentioned.
Six protesters sat within the hallway outdoors the governor’s workplace Tuesday afternoon making indicators that mentioned, “No Nazi Nebraska” and “ICE = Gestapo.”
Maghie Miller-Jenkins of Lincoln mentioned she doesn’t assume an ICE detention middle is a good suggestion, including the state ought to sort out issues like little one starvation and homelessness. “This state has numerous things they could focus on that would benefit the constituents,” Miller-Jenkins mentioned.
The Trump administration is including new detention amenities throughout the nation to carry the rising variety of immigrants it has arrested and accused of being within the nation illegally. Older and newer U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities have been holding greater than 56,000 immigrants in June, probably the most since 2019.
Different new and deliberate immigration detention amenities within the U.S. embrace the distant detention middle within the Florida Everglades referred to as “Alligator Alcatraz,” which opened final month. It’s designed to carry as much as 3,000 detainees in short-term tent buildings. When Mr. Trump toured it, he instructed it may very well be a mannequin for future lockups nationwide.
The Florida facility has additionally been the topic of authorized challenges by attorneys who allege violations of due course of there, together with the rights of detainees to fulfill with their attorneys, restricted entry to immigration courts and poor residing situations. Critics have been attempting to cease additional development and operations till it comes into compliance with federal environmental legal guidelines.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis introduced final week that his administration is getting ready to open a second facility, dubbed “Deportation Depot,” at a state jail in north Florida. It’s anticipated to have 1,300 immigration beds, although that capability may very well be expanded to 2,000, state officers mentioned.
Additionally final week, officers within the rural Tennessee city of Mason voted to approve agreements to show a former jail into an immigration detention facility operated by a personal firm, regardless of loud objections from residents and activists throughout a contentious public assembly.
And the Trump administration introduced plans earlier this month for a 1,000-bed detention middle in Indiana that will be dubbed “Speedway Slammer,” prompting a backlash within the Midwestern state that hosts the Indianapolis 500 auto race.
