Gov. Pillen visits McCook to announce state partnership with ICE and new detention facility

As Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen’s plane touched down on the tarmac of McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport Tuesday afternoon, several dozen protesters gathered behind a chain link fence.

Their signs included messages like, “Deport racists, not immigrants,” “My mom is not a criminal for wanting a better life,” and a plea from Leviticus 19 to “Love thy neighbor.”

Pillen’s visit came hours after an announcement that the McCook Work Ethic Camp, run by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, would be used as an immigrant detainment center in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“McCook will go down in history, making an extraordinary difference in correcting some really, really silly things that have taken place in this country in the last four years,” the governor said.

More details about the detention center news from McCook:

Pillen said most detainees would stay at the facility between five and 50 days while they wait to go before a judge.

“The folks that are coming in are minimal to low risk,” he said. “There won't be M-13 [sic] extraordinary criminals that were arrested in Omaha. They will not be being housed here.”

The McCook Work Ethic Camp currently houses around 185 inmates. Pillen said he expects the facility’s operational capacity to increase to around 300.

Red Willow County Sheriff Kevin Darling said there would be some additional training needed for the staff at the Work Ethic Camp, but that the facility is well-prepared.

“The reason they're going to the Work Ethic Camp in the first place is because there are processes that they have in place,” he said. “It's not like Alligator Alley. You know, it’s just like every jail in Nebraska, we have standards.”

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has dubbed the Nebraska facility, “Cornhusker Clink,” though neither Pillen nor other officials used the term Tuesday.

State Sen. Dave Murman, whose district encompasses a swath of southern Nebraska ranging from his hometown of Glenvil to McCook, said he was glad his district could support Pillen and Trump’s efforts.

“I'm glad to support the governor and especially the president,” he said. “We do have to do something about securing the border. We need to do our part, and I think the governor is doing that, and appreciate that District 38 and the city of McCook can be a part of that.”

Just outside the airport, the small crowd of protesters had a much different tune. Chloe Dixon, alongside her son in a stroller, was among them.

“I just don't want to see a concentration [camp] here in McCook, Nebraska,” she said. “I believe in love, not hate. And I don't want to raise my son knowing that there's people that may be illegal, because I don't believe anybody is illegal and human's human.”

Elizabeth Aguirre, a student at McCook Community College, said she came to the protest to stand up for immigrants, including her parents. Her message for Pillen and Trump?

“Think about mothers. Think about children,” she said. “We are not criminals. We're people like these are people that you are putting in like these ethnic camps.”

McCook resident Jason Hilker said he would have liked to see more transparency and community involvement in the decision.

“The growth and the profit margin from it seems to be offsetting the state's budget deficits instead of profiting our community, which is struggling right now,” he said. “We just failed a bond measure to get a new junior high, which the community badly needs, and instead, all of the margin from this is going to be collected at the state level.”

Pillen said he didn’t know an ICE detainment facility could be a “significant reality” until Friday, when he, along with NDCS Director Rob Jeffreys met with a DHS agent in McCook.

“To talk about it before then would have been foolish, because there didn't appear that there was a big chance of that, even though we've been working on a long time,” Pillen said. “As everybody knows, President Trump moves fast.”

Pillen said agreements have been made, but the state had yet to sign its contract with the federal government as of Tuesday. Pillen anticipated the contract to last for the next three and a half years – the remaining length of President Donald Trump’s second term.

The governor said he didn’t have answers regarding the future of the Work Ethic Camp once it is used by DHS, or whether the facility would house men, women, or children.

He did say there would be a “capitalistic opportunity” at the airport to increase the jet fuel supply, as more flights arrive and depart.