By Cindy Gonzalez | Nebraska Examiner
Five state senators took Pillen administration offer to tour state prison converted to federal migrant detention center Monday
LINCOLN — Five of Nebraska’s 49 state lawmakers Monday toured the controversial ICE migrant detention center in McCook, taking the Pillen administration up on a group invite to walk through the converted prison.
The lone Democrat participating, State Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha, estimated that between 100 and 150 migrants, all of them men, were being held at what state and federal officials call the “Cornhusker Clink.”
State prison officials have declined to provide a detainee population count or daily average, citing security concerns.
Except for new fencing, Juarez said much of the physical facility looked similar to what she had seen when she arrived unannounced in September, when the McCook prison still operated as the state’s Work Ethic Camp, aimed at stepping people toward lives outside of prison.
Several detainees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday were outside exercising, she said. A TV, a small library and a medical office were visible.
Some detainees inside played cards, according to observations by other senators on the tour, a group that included State Sens. Myron Dorn of Adams, Tom Brandt of Plymouth, Rob Clements of Elmwood and Dan Lonowski of Hastings.
Some key differences this time, Juarez said, were the backgrounds, languages and cultures of those being held at the center, which previously held Nebraska inmates nearing release.
The lawmakers told the Examiner the current detainees represented multiple countries, including Russia, India, Somalia, Mexico and Guatemala.
“I still think that how this is being done is wrong, and I’m not happy the place exists,” Juarez said after the visit, which lasted more than an hour.
Frustrated
But she and the other participating senators said the facility appeared clean, orderly and that detainees had access to visitors and a list of pro bono lawyers.
Juarez said she remains frustrated with federal immigration laws and enforcement tactics and said that pressure for change should be placed on Congress and at the ballot box.
“That change is what is needed so we’re not wasting our federal tax dollars,” she said, citing studies that immigration arrests under the Trump administration continued to increase but that an ever-lager share of arrests were solely for immigration violations and not for crimes the administration said would be its focus.
The tour of the McCook facility was offered to all 49 senators in the officially nonpartisan Legislature two days after State Sen. Michaela Cavanaugh of Omaha publicly criticized Gov. Jim Pillen’s administration for twice denying her entry on Nov. 12 and 13 to the McCook facility.
Cavanaugh initially arrived unannounced to the McCook facility Nov. 12, citing a state law that says members of the Legislature can enter such a state facility “at any time.” She was rejected and tried again the next morning, on Nov. 13, after alerting the Department of Correctional Services the prior evening.
Pillen on Monday said in a statement that the McCook facility has been up and running in its new role since November and said Monday was “a good opportunity for senators to come and see first-hand the operational aspects of the detention facility.”
Legislators were required to fill out a form by the end of the work day Friday to attend, which was sent to federal officials prior to the visit.
A Pillen spokesperson said reporters were not allowed on the Monday tour, which was led by Rob Jeffreys, the state’s director of Correctional Services. The Examiner spoke to the five lawmakers afterward.
Time in McCook varies
Jeffreys had told Cavanaugh that her alert in November was problematic, as it came with notice that was too short. Furthermore, he and a spokesperson for the Pillen administration said they interpret state law differently as it relates to entry to the McCook facility.
The state contracts with and is paid by the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to house the federal detainees at the McCook center while the detainees await deportation to other countries.
Cavanaugh declined to participate in the tour, saying she had previous commitments and also that it was unclear last week whether lawmakers would be allowed to bring a pen and paper into the facility, “let alone a phone” to perhaps record observations. She said one of her main goals was to ask questions of detainees and gather information in the event they needed services.
Lawmakers on the tour said they did not bring phones on the tour, but had access to staff members to answer questions. Some questions, including the average number of detainees each day, were not answered.
Senators said they were told that the range of time behind bars at the McCook facility ranged from a day for some, while others have been there since it pivoted to federal use.
Pillen said earlier that detainees started to arrive in early November and that he had expected 200 by Thanksgiving and up to 300 when other facility modifications were completed. The Republican state senators on the tour agreed with Juarez’s estimate that between 100 and 150 detainees were being held at the center on Monday.
A spokesperson for the Corrections Department said the number of detainees housed at the McCook facility “fluctuates regularly,” and that federal officials asked the state not to disclose numbers.
Brandt said the group was told many of the detainees are transported to McCook from the Omaha and North Platte airports, but that senators were not told the cities or states where the ICE detainees were originally arrested.
The five senators said they didn’t personally talk to detainees but said they were not prohibited from doing so.
They said at least some detainees had access to electronic tablets.
“It was very clean, well kept, very well run,” Dorn said of the former Work Ethic Camp facility.
“It seemed very peaceful, the dining room where they eat was nice,” said Clements. He said phone numbers for various foreign consulates were posted on a wall, and he could see a bank of phones available for detainee use.
The senators saw technology that allows detainees to attend immigration court hearings remotely.
Lonowski said he was impressed with the professionalism of staff, who appeared to be from the local area.
More construction this week
Dorn said he would have liked to see more lawmakers, but he said some had other commitments.
“I definitely expected a few more,” he said, saying he thought up to 15. “I’m glad five showed.”
Prior to the state senator visits, McCook Mayor Linda Taylor and McCook Police Chief Kevin Hodgson had their own tour of the facility.
Pillen’s statement said construction begins this week to expand the facility’s capacity from 200 to 300 detainees.
He said that as a federal detention center, compensation to Correctional Services, based on the expected use of the facility and costs associated with providing services to ICE, will be $2.45 million per month.
The arrangement with ICE should clear the state about $14.25 million annually, Pillen said. The current contact expires Sept. 29, 2027.