The Department of Homeland Security has announced a partnership with Nebraska for a new migrant detention center, the “Cornhusker Clink.” The facility will house up to 280 migrants in a work camp in McCook, Nebraska. Gov. Jim Pillen (R) stated that the Cornhusker Clink is about keeping Nebraskans and Americans across the country safe. However, there are legal and logistical issues raised by the project.
The remote location chosen for the facility will likely lead to staffing issues and violations of the due process rights of detainees, such as the right to access counsel. This situation could result in lawsuits, as seen in another state-run immigration facility, “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida.
Locally, the Cornhusker Clink will house nearly 300 detainees in a site designed for 200 people, and several hundred current inmates will need to be moved to other facilities, in a state beset by chronic prison overcrowding. The nonpartisan Prison Policy Initiative reports that Nebraska locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any other democratic country on earth.
The governor seems inconsistent about who will be held in the Cornhusker Clink, as he has stated that the facility will hold “criminals and terrorists” and MS-13 gang members, yet he has also said that the Clink will house low- to minimum-security detainees.
The reaction in Nebraska to news about the Cornhusker Clink has been mixed, with state politicians weighing in on predictably partisan lines. An online poll found that 75% of respondents do not support using the McCook facility to house undocumented immigrants.
Pillen’s embrace of a new detention center can be viewed as a Republican governor going along with policies favored by a Republican administration. However, Gallup, CNN, and other polling find that most Americans no longer favor harsh immigration policies. The Cornhusker Clink is a political stunt that will harm Nebraska’s workforce and its reputation.
