On August 20, 2025, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen stood before a crowd at McCook’s Ben Nelson Regional Airport and unveiled plans that have since ignited both passionate support and fierce criticism: a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility at the McCook Work Ethic Camp in southwestern Nebraska. The move, widely described as symbolic of Nebraska’s alignment with the Trump administration’s hardline immigration enforcement agenda, has become a flashpoint in a national debate over border policy, the future of ICE, and the role of states in federal immigration crackdowns.
According to the Nebraska Examiner, Governor Pillen expressed pride in joining what he called “Trump’s Team” to “make sure we keep our community safe.” He cited the arrest of an MS-13 “kingpin” in Omaha as justification for the state’s partnership with ICE, telling Nebraskans, “Government’s most important job is to keep us safe.” Pillen’s comments, delivered as protesters gathered outside, echoed the rhetoric of former President Donald Trump, whose Department of Homeland Security touted the new facility as a tool to help ICE agents “remove the worst of the worst.” However, state officials clarified that the center would house only low-level and medium-risk immigration-related detainees, not violent offenders.
This new facility, nicknamed the “Cornhusker Clink” as part of a White House PR campaign, is designed to hold up to 300 migrants—despite the McCook Work Ethic Camp’s original capacity for just 200. The center is intended to serve as a Midwestern hub for ICE detentions, potentially housing migrants from neighboring states as well. The effort is part of a nationwide detention expansion strategy that includes reviving dormant prisons, repurposing military bases, and forging partnerships with private prison contractors, local sheriffs, and Republican governors. As The Washington Post reported, similar facilities are springing up elsewhere: Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” was built to house up to 3,000 detainees (expandable to 5,000), while Indiana’s “Speedway Slammer” is expected to hold up to 1,000.
Funding for these expansions comes from the recently passed “One Big Beautiful Bill”—a sweeping piece of legislation that allocated roughly $45 billion to build, rent, and staff new detention centers, as well as to hire 10,000 new ICE officers within five years. The bill also provides for retention bonuses, transportation of immigrants, facility upgrades, and the hiring of ICE lawyers for enforcement and removal proceedings. According to Nebraska Examiner, this influx of resources positions ICE to become the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency, a testament to the Trump administration’s prioritization of immigration enforcement.
The Nebraska facility’s unveiling comes against the backdrop of historic shifts in U.S. immigration patterns. As the Pew Research Center reported, the number of immigrants lacking permanent legal status in the United States reached an all-time high of 14 million people in 2023. This record-setting surge was largely driven by an increase in “unauthorized immigrants” who were temporarily allowed into the country for further review—including asylum-seekers and those paroled after crossing the border. The spike coincided with the beginning of President Joe Biden’s administration in January 2021 and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit poorer countries especially hard and prompted increased migration northward.
Pew’s analysis found that California, Texas, Florida, and New York absorbed the largest populations of unauthorized immigrants in 2023, with California alone accounting for 2.3 million. Eight other states—including New Jersey, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio—saw increases of 75,000 or more. Notably, swing states were particularly affected: Florida’s unauthorized immigrant population grew by 700,000, Georgia’s by 100,000, Pennsylvania and Michigan each by 80,000, and North Carolina by 100,000. Even Texas, a GOP stronghold, absorbed 450,000 unauthorized immigrants in just two years under Biden, while New Jersey saw an influx of 150,000.
These demographic changes have fueled political tensions and shaped the rhetoric of both parties. After a period of record border crossings and expanded asylum opportunities under Biden, Trump campaigned in 2024 on what he called “the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.” Upon returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump reversed several Biden-era protections, imposed stricter asylum rules, and launched a sweeping crackdown on unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 302,000 encounters at the southern border in December 2023—a new record at the time. However, illegal border crossings reportedly dropped dramatically after Trump’s election victory and his return to office.
The ICE expansion in Nebraska and elsewhere is seen by many as both a practical and a political maneuver. Dona-Gene Barton, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, told the Nebraska Examiner that Nebraska’s move is “a Republican governor showing support for a Republican president’s agenda.” She added, “It’s not only a way to show support for Donald Trump’s agenda, but show the electorate that these detention centers are going to be throughout the United States.” Barton also noted that the rhetoric surrounding these facilities often doesn’t match reality: “This rhetoric doesn’t even match what Governor Pillen has said about the facility being used to house low to medium security risks.”
Not everyone in Nebraska is on board. The announcement has sparked protests and fierce debate, particularly among Democrats and advocacy groups. The Nebraska Democratic Party called the facility “yet another ‘bend the knee’ moment by top Republicans in Nebraska,” accusing GOP leaders of locking up “hardworking” people who contribute to the state’s agricultural economy rather than focusing on actual criminals. State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln questioned the need for the facility and whether state funds would be required, saying, “For [Pillen] to be showing off to the federal administration in this way just seems out of touch with everyday Nebraskans. All of it is because we have an administration that’s failed to actually deal with any kind of real immigration reform.”
Republican lawmakers, for their part, have largely rallied behind the initiative. State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City declared his full support for the McCook facility “as Nebraskans in service to a safer America.” State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, a conservative swing vote, said, “If Nebraska has the capacity to help out, I don’t think that we should resist … as long as it’s a good and fair and legal process.” The Nebraska Republican Party echoed these sentiments, stating that the announcement “demonstrates the seriousness of the crisis and the need for leadership that prioritizes Nebraska families.”
Governor Pillen’s office has dismissed criticism as politically motivated. Laura Strimple, a spokeswoman for Pillen, told the Nebraska Examiner, “It’s simple. Those who are opposed to Nebraska doing its fair share in securing our nation’s border want to relive the failed Biden-era open-border policies. Nebraskans spoke loud and clear last November and demanded order at the border.”
Meanwhile, the “Cornhusker Clink” nickname and its accompanying memes—such as AI-generated images of cornfields and ICE hats—are part of a larger PR strategy designed to persuade migrants without legal status to leave the country and to energize the GOP base. Barton explained that these tactics are meant to “gain media attention and rile up a part of the GOP base that supports Trump’s approach to immigration enforcement.”
As the dust settles in McCook and across the nation, Nebraska’s new ICE facility stands as both a literal and symbolic battleground in the ongoing struggle over America’s immigration future. The debate is far from settled, and the implications—for Nebraska, for migrants, and for the country—are likely to reverberate for years to come.
