Alliterative additions to Homeland Security’s stock of pre-removal detention centers are proceeding apace. On August 19, Secretary Kristi Noem announced a new partnership with the state of Nebraska to create new ICE detention space — by up to 280 beds — at the Work Ethic Camp in McCook, Nebraska. The new facility, humorously dubbed the “Cornhusker Clink,” follows similarly named prisons such as Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz,” Indiana’s “Speedway Slammer,” and Texas’s “Lone-Star Lockup.” In all, counting Nebraska’s contribution, about 18,000 new beds have been added to ICE’s existing detention space. It currently has about 59,000 illegal immigrants in custody, and much more space will be required if the agency is to reach its goal of having detention space for 100,000 deportees at a time.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, said of the new facility:
Today the State of Nebraska is stepping up its support of President Trump’s and Secretary Noem’s immigration enforcement initiatives in several key ways. I am 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. I am also proud that the Nebraska State Patrol and National Guard will be assisting ICE enforcement efforts, as well. Homeland security starts at home, and, just as when I twice deployed troops to secure our southern border during the failed Biden administration, Nebraska will continue to do its part.
For more, see the DHS website.