Nebraska Says It Will Build 280-Bed Immigration Detention Facility

Topline

The Trump administration will establish an ICE detention space in southwest Nebraska, according to the Department of Homeland Security, marking the latest immigration detention center made to accommodate President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push.

The facility was announced Tuesday. (Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Washington Post via Getty Images

Key Facts

The facility will include 280 beds for people awaiting deportation or deportation proceedings, according to DHS.

Work Ethic Camp, a minimum security prison work camp in McCook, Nebraska, will be used as the site of the immigration detention center.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem dubbed the facility “Cornhusker Clink” and noted the facility was part of an agreement between Nebraska and the federal government.

Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said in a statement he was “pleased that our facility and team in McCook can be tasked with helping our federal partners protect our homeland by housing criminal illegal aliens roaming our country’s communities today.”

DHS also announced Pillen ordered about 20 members of the Nebraska National Guard to assist Nebraska-based Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, with the members beginning training within the next week.

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What Is Known About Nebraska’s Work Ethic Camp?

The Work Ethic Camp is located in southwest Nebraska, about 230 miles from the state’s capital of Lincoln. Specifically, the facility is in the city of McCook, an agricultural area with an estimated population of 7,427, according to the U.S. Census. The Work Ethic Camp was opened in 2001 and initially designed to reduce prison overcrowding, according to a Nebraska legislative report, providing the incarcerated with life skills training, substance abuse treatment and work experience. The camp housed males and females for several years before strictly being designated for males in 2012. The facility currently has 200 beds, according to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, meaning its transition into an immigration detention center will incorporate 80 new beds. Last year, the camp held 197 inmates. The Nebraska Department of correctional services noted in its 2024 legislative report that the camp’s “equipment and fixtures have reached their expected years of service,” and that the state of the infrastructure will “continue to increase basic maintenance and/or replacement costs.”

What Other Immigration Detention Centers Are Being Established?

The Nebraska facility is one of dozens of immigration detention centers that are part of the Trump administration’s push to increase infrastructure to support mass deportations, according to The Washington Post, which reported immigration authorities are planning to open or expand 125 facilities this year. The detention centers notably include a facility in Florida’s Everglades and another in Bunker Hill, Indiana, with the former detention center slated to hold up to 5,000 beds while the latter will have 1,000. The construction of the Florida facility, known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” has hit legal hurdles. A judge ordered a two-week halt on construction for the facility in early August, handing down the decision as environmental groups and the Miccoshukee Tribe claim the site’s construction was permitted without any environmental reviews. Another Florida immigration detention center was announced this month and will be operational “soon,” according to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The “Deportation Depot” is located in north Florida near Lake City Gateway Airport, which will carry out deportation flights, the governor said.

Key Background

Trump’s mass deportation efforts began with a wave of legally contested deportation flights and has ratcheted up with ICE raids in some of the U.S.’ largest cities, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta and New York City. The Los Angeles raids, which are ongoing, were met with large anti-ICE protests in June that resulted in Trump deploying the National Guard and Marines to the city. The president’s decision was met with anger from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who did not approve the deployment and is suing Trump over the matter. A majority of the 109,000 ICE arrests made in the first five months of Trump’s second term occurred in border and southern states, according to CBS News, with Texas, Florida and California leading the way.