State senators tour McCook ICE facility

By Fred Knapp , Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media

Dec. 15, 2025, 6 p.m. ·

State senators toured the ICE detention facility in McCook on Monday (Photo courtesy Nebraska Department of Correctional Services) — State senators tour the ICE detention facility in McCook on Monday. (Photo courtesy Nebraska Department of Correctional Services)

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Five Nebraska state senators toured the state-run ICE detention facility in McCook Monday.

Monday’s visit was the first for state senators since the former state prison was converted to an ICE detention facility last month.

Sen. Myron Dorn, chair of the Legislature’s oversight committee, was impressed, saying the facility “looked very good, very clean, very well kept. It looked pretty calm, content. The detainees didn't look like they were anxious or anything like that.”

Dorn and the other senators said they did not interact with the detainees, although Sen. Dan Lonowski said the detainees could have done so if they wanted to. Senators described the people being held as sunning themselves, playing in a recreation area, and playing cards.

Sen. Margo Juarez said the facility did not look much different from when she visited it earlier this year, before it was converted from a work ethic camp for prisoners nearing their release date, except for the addition of a taller fence and an electronic gate with a guard.

Juarez said she did not observe bad conditions such as have been reported at an ICE detention facility in Florida.

“Obviously there are positives to it … as far as the environment goes," she said. "But the plan is still wrong to me. I am still not supportive of what they're doing. I am one who's more supportive of getting those immigration laws changed, and quit ignoring the issues, and let's accommodate the workforce needs that exist."

Sen. Tom Brandt said Corrections Director Rob Jeffreys indicated his department picks up detainees at airports including North Platte and Omaha and delivers them to McCook.

“In a sense, it's just a holding area for these people. They have access to telephones, they have access to laptops. They have two rooms set aside as what they call virtual courtrooms,” Brandt said. He said senators saw one detainee conversing with a judge or an attorney on a screen, with a corrections employee helping with translation and use of the technology.

Sen. Rob Clements said indications are there are at least 100 detainees at the facility, and described a bank of telephones with information on reaching consulates from many different countries, including Rwanda, China, Iran, and Mexico. Juarez said there were many different ethnicities, but most detainees appeared to be Hispanic.

Lonowski described the facility as reminiscent of a military barracks, with people responsible for their own areas, and said overall, he was very impressed.

Juarez said she was told the facility planned to add a negatively pressured room to prevent contagious detainees from spreading disease to others, among other construction planned to help the facility reach a capacity of up to 300 sometime next year.