The “Cornhusker Clink” immigration detention center opened this week in Nebraska at the site of an old state prison facility, Gov. Jim Pillen announced Thursday.
“Our facility is operational,” Pillen said.
The Republican governor met with city officials in McCook, a remote town of about 7,000 residents located near the border of Kansas, earlier this week to talk about the operations of the site.
In August, Nebraska partnered with the Trump administration to build the center that will house up to 200 detainees during this first completed phase, Pillen said. The facility was planned to help provide more beds for federal detainees as part of President Donald Trump’s focus on immigration enforcement.
About 50 or 60 detainees awaiting federal proceedings or deportation back to their countries of origin arrived this week, he said.
“My expectation would be that the first phase of 200 detainees will [arrive] before Thanksgiving,” Pillen said during a news conference on an unrelated topic.
The state just received approval from the federal government to begin the second phase of the project, which will include building space for another 100 beds, for a total of 300 beds, Pillen said.
About 20 Army National Guard soldiers were expected to help provide administrative and logistical support to federal immigration officials as they work together to enforce immigration laws in the state.
The detention center is expected to house detainees from several states.
Dubbed “Cornhusker Clink,” the facility’s name is a play on Nebraska’s nickname of the Cornhusker State and an old term for jail.
The center follows the opening of similar facilities: the “Alligator Alcatraz” and “Deportation Depot” centers in Florida, and the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana.
The state worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to convert its former Work Ethic Camp prison into the holding facility.
The old site housed around 180 low-level offenders who participated in education, treatment, and work programs to help them transition into a new life away from prison. Prisoners worked on roads, parks, county and city offices, and even some schools.
The prisoners have been moved out of the McCook site. Several of them were paroled, put on probation, or released. The majority were sent to other facilities, including community corrections in Omaha and Lincoln. Others were sent to other state prisons.
Thirteen McCook residents and former Democratic state Sen. DiAnna Schimek have sued Pillen and the director of the state prison system over the detention center, claiming only the state Legislature has the authority to control or manage state prisons or repurpose the use of public buildings.
The lawsuit was filed in state court by nonprofit legal advocacy group Nebraska Appleseed, which focuses heavily on the immigrant population.
The group’s request to stop the state from opening the immigration detention center was rejected by a judge last month.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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