What we know about the new ICE detention center in McCook

Officials announced Tuesday that a minimum-security prison in McCook will be converted into an ICE detention facility, though details about who will be held there and when the transition will begin remain scarce.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Tuesday afternoon that the McCook Work Ethic Camp, currently a minimum-security prison, will be repurposed into a detention facility to hold immigration detainees as they await court hearings or deportation flights.

According to Pillen and Nebraska Department of Corrections Director Rob Jeffreys, the facility will continue to be run by the state but will be paid for by the federal government. There will be an initial one-year contract with opportunities for extension.

The facility has been dubbed the “Cornhusker Clink” by Noem and Pillen. It is the third such state-run immigration detention center commissioned by the federal government and given what Jeffreys described as a “very lively” name, and is modeled after the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center in the Florida Everglades.

At a press conference in McCook, Mayor Linda Taylor said Pillen’s team held a 30-minute meeting with city and county officials on Saturday afternoon, though she said they didn’t receive a “whole lot of details.”

“I know our community has questions,” she said. “We share those questions with our residents who deserve clear and timely answers. We will work cooperatively with the governor’s team and with ICE to learn more.”

Jeffreys said at a separate press conference that the facility will be expanded to safely house 300 people by utilizing multipurpose and activity rooms for housing. The current operational capacity is 200 people.

He expects the inmates at the Work Ethic Camp to begin being transferred to other facilities at some point in the next 45 to 60 days. Jeffreys said the timeline for moving immigration detainees into the facility is still up in the air.

“We still need to talk with ICE,” he said. “I don’t want to get baked into a timeline with them before we take care of our own house.”

Asked if children or families will be held at the facility, Pillen said he is “not a politician” and has “not thought about that.” Pillen initially said the facility would hold people who are “minimal to low risk,” though he later referred to detaining “criminals” and “terrorists” who are involved in drug and sex trafficking.

“They will be people that have come that are criminals that have come through in the past four years,” Pillen said of the people who will be housed at the facility. “Low to minimum means that they are not murderers, but they are a risk and a threat to our communities.”

McCook, situated in southwestern Nebraska, is home to about 7,400 people. The Work Ethic Camp was built in 2001 and has since held minimum-custody inmates.

Nebraska Public Media submitted a records request to Pillen's office earlier this month regarding ICE detention facility plans in Nebraska, but Pillen's staff said they wouldn't be able to fulfill the request until late August.

Nebraska Appleseed, a non-profit that advocates for immigrants and other vulnerable groups, called the move "part of a harmful, dangerous and rapid expansion" of immigration detention facilities.

“Nebraska is a state that welcomes our neighbors and values the contributions of local moms, dads, coworkers, neighbors, and friends,” Darcy Tromanhauser, the group's immigrants and communities program director, said in a statement. "Nebraskans do not want us to be known as a state that separates families and locks up and detains members of our communities."

More details about the detention center news from McCook:

Additional state-federal partnerships announced

In addition to the new detention center, Pillen also announced that the Nebraska State Patrol will enter what’s known as a 287(g) partnership with ICE under the Task Force Model. That will allow six designated, trained troopers to interrogate suspected noncitizens about their immigration status, and make immigration arrests without a warrant.

The task force model is the most intensive and the only model to allow deputized officers to conduct immigration enforcement outside of a jail setting. It was previously phased out in 2012, and remained out of use until President Donald Trump took office in January.

Under the second Trump administration, the total number of 287(g) agreements has more than quadrupled. The Nebraska State Patrol will be, by far, the largest law enforcement agency in the state to adopt a 287(g) agreement.

“I have sent a letter of intent over to DHS and to ICE that we.. want to participate in the 287(g) program,” Bryan Waugh, the Superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol, said on Tuesday. “That’s the first step to the process. Once we come to an agreement, we’ll have a signed (memorandum of understanding) that will explain the details.”

The Nebraska National Guard will also provide up to 20 personnel to provide administrative, clerical and logistical support to ICE facilities in the state. The designated soldiers will begin training later this week and are currently authorized to continue in that role until November 15, according to Major General Craig Strong.