Overview

• DHS and Gov. Jim Pillen announced Tuesday that Nebraska will repurpose the McCook Work Ethic Camp into an ICE detention site with roughly 280 beds.
• State corrections officials said the 186 current inmates will be transferred to other prisons over 45 to 60 days before the facility begins housing immigration detainees.
• Nebraska will run the site with federal funding, and about 20 National Guard soldiers will provide administrative and logistical support as the State Patrol prepares to assist federal arrests.
• DHS has framed the site as housing “criminal illegal aliens,” while Nebraska corrections director Rob Jeffreys said detainees are expected to be low to medium risk.
• The move adds to a broader expansion that includes Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” and Indiana’s “Speedway Slammer,” backed by a recent congressional appropriation, as legal challenges and local protests continue in other locations.