No formal agreement has been signed to convert a remote Nebraska state prison into an immigration detention center, more than three weeks after Republican Gov. Jim Pillen announced the plan, state and local officials said, even as corrections officials said the facility could begin housing hundreds of male detainees as soon as next month.
The proposal calls for retrofitting classrooms and other spaces at the McCook Work Ethic Camp in southwestern Nebraska for beds and turning the minimum-security facility into a regional hub for immigration detainees under President Donald Trump's crackdown. State corrections officials told lawmakers the camp could hold between 200 and 300 detainees, up from about 155 currently housed there.
Lawmakers who were briefed last week said the session produced few concrete answers about cost, staffing, oversight and the legal authority for the move. "There was more unanswered questions than answered questions in terms of what they know," state Sen. Wendy DeBoer, a Democrat in Nebraska's officially nonpartisan Legislature, said after the briefing.
State officials told legislators the governor's office initiated the offer after a generalized federal request for more detention capacity. Officials said the camp's current staff of 97 would be retrained and remain on site and that the state expects federal reimbursement for any conversion costs, but they provided no definitive dollar figure for anticipated expenses. As of Friday, no formal agreement between the state and the federal agency had been signed.
A letter signed by 13 state lawmakers questioned whether Pillen had the authority to transfer a state prison for federal use without legislative approval. State Sen. Terrell McKinney, chairman of the Legislature's Urban Affairs Committee and an outspoken critic of the state's overcrowded prison system, convened a public hearing to press the governor's office and corrections officials for answers, citing concerns including building code violations that fall under his committee's jurisdiction.
"How can you take a facility that was built for 125 people and take that to a capacity of 200 to 300 people without creating, you know, a security risk?" McKinney asked at the hearing. Pillen and state prison officials did not appear at the session. Dozens of residents attended, and most voiced opposition to converting the camp into an immigration detention center.
City officials in McCook said they were caught off guard when Pillen announced the plan in mid-August. Local leaders had not been consulted, according to Mike O'Dell, publisher of the McCook Gazette. The town of about 7,000 is the seat of Red Willow County, which voted for Trump by nearly 80% in the 2024 election, and O'Dell said that while many in the community support stricter immigration enforcement, residents are also accustomed to the camp's inmates performing work in public offices, parks, roads and schools.
The McCook Work Ethic Camp opened in 2001 and is designed as a minimum-security facility focused on education, treatment and work programs intended to reduce recidivism. State leaders have often cited the camp as a model for preparing inmates for reentry into the community.
Lawmakers and local officials have raised additional questions about staffing levels and whether the facility can safely expand beyond its designed capacity. Nebraska's prisons are among the most overcrowded and chronically understaffed in the nation, critics say, and some legislators argued Pillen moved too quickly in offering the camp to federal authorities.
Pillen has said state law gives him the authority to make the transfer because the Department of Correctional Services is part of the executive branch. Federal and state officials have used alliterative nicknames for proposed detention hubs elsewhere, referring to the McCook proposal as the "Cornhusker Clink," in line with other centers dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" in Florida and the "Speedway Slammer" in Indiana.
With no signed agreement and unanswered questions about financing, staffing and oversight, the plan's timeline remains uncertain. State corrections officials said they were preparing for a possible start next month but acknowledged the details had not been finalized. Lawmakers who oppose the plan indicated they will continue to press the administration for documents and clear legal authority before any detainees are transferred to the facility.