Clergy members ask Pillen to drop ICE detention center plans in McCook
By Fred Knapp 
, Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
Sept. 11, 2025, 3 p.m. ·
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A group of Catholic and Protestant clergy urged Gov. Jim Pillen on Thursday to drop plans to host an ICE detention center in McCook.
The group, called the Nebraska Clergy Action Network, held a news conference in Omaha to oppose converting the McCook Work Ethic Camp into a detention center for people who are to be deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Among those speaking was Eduardo Bousson, a United Methodist minister from Lincoln.
“I oppose the detention center in Nebraska because it goes against what Christ was all about,” Bousson said. "He gave His life preaching about lifting up the poor, healing the sick, advocating for the prisoners, liberating the oppressed, and this center is the opposite of what Jesus' life was about."
The news conference was the day before the Legislature’s Urban Affairs Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Friday on whether the planned facility will be overcrowded, in violation of building codes.
The Urban Affairs hearing will be livestreamed Friday beginning at 9 a.m. CT onNebraska Public Media.