Addressing reporters on Thursday, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen said the controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in McCook is “operational” and currently holding dozens of detainees.
Pillen said he recently discussed the issue with McCook Mayor Linda Taylor, adding that detainees began arriving Monday night.
The Work Ethic Camp’s transition from a minimum-security rehabilitative center to a migrant detention facility will roll out in two phases, said Pillen. Phase one consists of accommodating 200 detainees, phase two will add an additional 100 beds to the center.
“My expectation with everything we’ve been briefed on would be that the first phase, that’ll be full for sure before Thanksgiving, as detainees are coming in each day,” said Pillen. “I would expect that the second phase will be ready in the first part of the new year.”
The retooled McCook center has roughly between 50 to 60 detainees “as we speak,” according to Pillen.
Operating the facility will bring about $14 million to the state in annual revenue, according to Nebraska’s contract with ICE. That contract runs through 2027.
Nebraska was the third state to announce a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security Secretary to expand ICE detention space, following the opening of one in Florida and announced plans in Indiana.
The Work Ethic Camp originally held just under 200 people at the time of the ICE announcement. Inmate shifting and further stress on state prisons has prompted concerns from opponents, as Nebraska’s prison population is sitting at 140% of designed capacity.
“History will not remember this moment kindly,” said ACLU of Nebraska Executive Director Mindy Rush Chipman in a statement Thursday. “For all the governor’s talk about public safety, the reality is that our federal government is hurting our communities by stripping away protected statuses, separating families, taking people who have been here for years, and denying them due process once they are in detention.”
Chipman said ACLU-Nebraska will “do everything in our power to ensure basic rights are respected in this facility, and we will continue to work alongside our communities to urge our governor to reverse course and end this disgraceful stunt.”
Today’s announcement comes after a late October ruling from a Red Willow County District Judge, allowing a lawsuit challenging Pillen’s plan to convert the McCook center may move forward. Judge Patrick Heng denied motions from both Nebraska Appleseed and the State of Nebraska, meaning the case was not dismissed—but the governor’s plan to repurpose the facility will continue while the lawsuit proceeds.
The lawsuit, filed by former State Senator DiAnna Schimek and 13 McCook residents, argues that the governor exceeded his legal authority by repurposing a state correctional facility without legislative approval.