On Thursday, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen announced that a remote minimum-security prison in the state will begin serving as an immigration detention center to receive detainees. He has also admitted that it is still unclear if the center would house both men and women and, if children would be detained too.
According to both the state government and the Department of Homeland Security, under Secretary Kristi Noem, as of Thursday, the “Cornhusker Clink” detention facility held between 50 and 60 immigrant detainees. Pillen stated that the prison should reach its maximum capacity of 300 by Thanksgiving. Work to expand it to accommodate another 100 beds is also underway.
The federal immigration detention centers have garnered a lot of darkly satirical nicknames. “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana, “Alligator Alcatraz” and “Deportation Depot” in Florida, which critics say is an attempt by the Trump administration to evoke fear and encourage immigrants to self-deport. These prisons evoke danger and cruelty, enough to make people stay on their heels.
Newly-opened ICE facility in Nebraska is already holding dozens of detainees. https://t.co/coBbm1gpCk pic.twitter.com/bo45VqEcFg
— KETV NewsWatch 7 (@KETV) November 7, 2025
The facility is located in McCook, a remote city of 7,000 people. According to The Associated Press, the center is in the middle of wide-open prairies between Denver and Omaha. The facility is already working on expansion to accommodate more than 100 beds, bringing the center to a total of 300 inmates. This is the second phase of conversion, the Republican governor said. “I would expect that the second phase will be ready in the first part of the new year,” he said.
In August, Pillen stated at a news conference that the center will be located at an existing facility and near a regional airport. He told reporters that “he didn’t know if the center would house women as well as men or if children could be held there.”
The Trump administration has been constantly adding new detention centers across the country. The objective is to hold the growing number of immigrants who are being arrested and accused of entering the country illegally. ICE centers were holding more than 56,000 immigrants in June, the most since 2019.
Nobody still believes ICE is going after violent criminals… right?
📌 On Tuesday, ICE agents raided a massive meatpacking plant in Omaha, Nebraska—rounding up dozens of suspected undocumented workers. The agency called it the largest worksite immigration sweep in the state… pic.twitter.com/iJVzfu5gDp
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) June 12, 2025
About 180 low-level criminals were kept there during the McCook Work Ethic Camp, which helped inmates adjust to life outside of jail. The training provided them with education, treatment, and employment opportunities. State officials frequently described the program as a success in reducing prisoner recidivism because inmates there frequently worked on roads, in parks, in county and city offices, and even in nearby schools.
The state capital, Lincoln, is roughly 210 miles west of McCook. When Pillen declared in August that he was turning the prison over to federal authorities as part of President Donald Trump’s broad immigration crackdown, McCook officials and locals were caught off guard.
The facility has been called the “Cornhusker Clink,” a play on Nebraska’s namesake, the Cornhusker State, and an old slang phrase for jail, by representatives of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Nebraska.
The nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse reports that by mid-September, there were nearly 60,000 individuals detained in immigration detention, a 51% rise since January. According to TRAC, almost 70% of people in custody had no criminal history.
