MCCOOK, Neb. — A former minimum-security state prison in southwest Nebraska has been converted into a federal immigration detention center and began accepting detainees this week, Gov. Jim Pillen announced Thursday. The facility, located in McCook, currently holds about 60 detainees and is expected to reach its 200-bed capacity by Thanksgiving.
The center, nicknamed the “Cornhusker Clink,” was formerly the McCook Work Ethic Camp, which housed low-level offenders participating in education and work programs aimed at reducing recidivism. Those inmates have been relocated to other state facilities or paroled. A second phase of construction will add 100 more beds early next year.
The conversion is part of President Donald Trump’s expanded immigration enforcement campaign. Some Nebraska lawmakers criticized the move, citing overcrowding in the state’s prison system. A lawsuit filed by residents and the advocacy group Nebraska Appleseed argues that only the Legislature has authority to repurpose state facilities.
Nationwide, nearly 60,000 people were held in immigration detention as of mid-September, a 51% increase since January, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. About 70% of those detainees have no criminal record.
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