\Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen on Aug. 19 announced [7] the opening of a new immigration detention center in the southwest corner of the state. National Guard Maj-Gen. Craig Strong called the move a step in supporting "the president's initiatives for homeland security." The present McCook "Work Ethic Camp [8]," run by the state Corrections Department, will be transformed from a minimum-security facility, and its holding capacity will be expanded from about 185 to approximately 300.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said [9] that the new center, dubbed Cornhusker Clink, is a partnership between Nebraska and the DHS. Secretary Kristi Noem remarked that the partnership aims "to remove the worst of the worst out of our country." Gov. Pillen spoke similarly, stating:
I am pleased that our facility and team in McCook can be tasked with helping our federal partners protect our homeland by housing criminal illegal aliens roaming our country’s communities today. I am also proud that the Nebraska State Patrol and National Guard will be assisting ICE enforcement efforts, as well. Homeland security starts at home, and, just as when I twice deployed troops to secure our southern border during the failed Biden administration, Nebraska will continue to do its part.
The new detention center mirrors Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz [10]," from which deportations [11] have already started to occur. Nebraska residents are protesting the new center's opening, with some expressing [13] concerns that it will be a "concentration camp." One protestor pleaded, "We are not criminals. We're people like these people that you are putting in, like, these ethnic camps."
Establishment of the "Cornhusker Clink" is facilitated by President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill [14], which seeks to "expand, facilitate, and implement agreements under section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act." The 287(g) program [15] allows state and local law enforcement agencies to partner with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [16] (ICE), ultimately giving more power to state and local governments to "identify and process removable aliens with pending or active criminal charges," among other duties.
Pillen anticipates that the contract for the new center, once signed, will last for the duration of Trump's presidency.
From JURIST [17], Aug. 20. Used with permission. Internal links added.
