Nebraska officials release details of contract to turn McCook facility into ICE detention center

Below: State Senator Megan Hunt joined Nebraska's Public Media's All Things Considered to discuss the State of Nebraska's newly released contract with ICE for a detention facility in McCook.

Nebraska will be paid a base rate of roughly $2.5 million a month to run the McCook Work Ethic Camp as a detention center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

That and other details are contained in the contract between Nebraska and the Department of Homeland Security, which the state made public on Friday.

In the first year of the contract, which began Sept. 30, Nebraska will be paid about $2.46 million per month, or about $269 per detainee. In the second year, the monthly rate goes up to $2.53 million, or roughly $277 per detainee. Contract language indicates that both men and women could be held at the facility.

Sen. Megan Hunt, who’s been critical of the state using the facility for ICE detention, said she sees a number of problems with the contract, which she called "morally wrong."

"I mean, I could go line by line and give you like 20 different ones, but some of the ones that worry me the most is that this ICE contract bans videotaping, recording and even public access to a state-owned facility," Hunt said. "And that is unacceptable."

Hunt also criticized the lack of information that's been made available about the facility and the deal between the state and the federal government.

"We have not been able to get any information about the timeline of this facility, and we are operating just like the public, just like the press, basically off of rumors," she said.

A news release from Gov. Jim Pillen’s office said use of the facility as a federal detention center will save the state money. According to the release, it currently costs the state a little more than $10 million a year to run the Work Ethic Camp, which houses inmates who are near the end of their sentences.

The news release says that taking into account the monthly rate to be paid by the federal government, the arrangement with DHS and ICE will net the state about $14.25 million annually, even after taking into consideration the increased staffing and other costs. The facility was originally built to house 200 inmates but is being expanded to hold as many as 300.

The contract also includes nearly $5.9 million in one-time fees to pay for renovation costs.

“I’m very grateful to President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security for their strong leadership in securing our nation’s southern border and addressing illegal immigration through initiatives like this,” Pillen said in a statement.

Pillen has said he expects the prison to be open and ready to accept detainees by Nov. 1 or even earlier, although it’s unknown whether that will happen or not.

Senator Terrell McKinney, who has called for a public hearing on the proposed facility in the Nebraska Legislature's Judiciary Committee, said he wants to see the information that was redacted by officials before the contract was published.

"Although there is a contract, there are still many more questions to be asked," McKinney said. "And now we see that, it's going to be an adult facility, and they're going to house male and female individuals, which is also an issue as well. The facility was built for 125 people, and you want to put 300 people in there. And now, you're going to mix genders. That presents a whole other can of worms."

On Thursday, more than a dozen McCook residents and a former Nebraska state senator filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to stop the Work Ethic Camp from being used as an ICE detention facility.

A hearing on that lawsuit is scheduled for Oct. 24 at 9 a.m. in McCook.