The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced the opening of a new detention facility for illegal immigrants in Nebraska, part of a wider national expansion of detention capacity under President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda.
The facility, dubbed the “Cornhusker Clink,” is located at the Work Ethic Camp in McCook, Nebraska, and adds 280 detention beds through a partnership between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the expansion is one of several made possible by funding authorized under what the administration calls the “Big Beautiful Bill,” passed earlier this year. The law increased funding for the federal 287(g) program and provided resources for 80,000 additional ICE detention beds nationwide.
“COMING SOON to Nebraska: Cornhusker Clink,” Noem said in a statement. “Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with the state of Nebraska to expand detention bed space by 280 beds. Thanks to Governor Pillen for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country. If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Nebraska’s Cornhusker Clink.”
Noem encouraged migrants living in the U.S. unlawfully to voluntarily depart using the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Home App, adding, “Avoid arrest and self deport now.”
Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen welcomed the agreement. “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,” Pillen said. He also confirmed that the Nebraska State Patrol and National Guard will assist ICE enforcement operations in the state.
“Homeland security starts at home,” Pillen added. “Just as when I twice deployed troops to secure our southern border during the failed Biden administration, Nebraska will continue to do its part.”
The Nebraska facility is one of several new partnerships DHS has announced in recent months. The broader initiative comes amid ICE’s plan to more than double its detention capacity before the end of 2025. According to federal documents obtained by the Washington Post, ICE intends to expand from roughly 50,000 detention beds at the end of the Biden administration to over 107,000 by this December.
Much of the expansion will come through new facilities in states that previously had little or no ICE detention presence, along with temporary “soft-sided” housing units such as tents to quickly boost capacity. Two private prison operators — Geo Group and CoreCivic — have received new federal contracts to assist with the expansion.
States with the largest concentration of beds include Texas, Louisiana, California, Georgia, and Arizona, though additional facilities are planned in Colorado, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, Mississippi, and more than 30 other states and territories.
In July, DHS announced a $1.26 billion project to build a detention center at Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas. The facility will hold up to 5,000 individuals and is expected to serve as a deportation hub given its proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border and access to an airfield. That same month, plans were unveiled to place detention housing at Indiana’s Camp Atterbury and New Jersey’s Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
Trump administration officials have argued that mass deportations and expanded detention are less costly than continued illegal immigration. In April, DHS compared the $45 billion allocated for detention expansion to an estimated $150 billion annual cost of illegal immigration to taxpayers.
According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the net cost of illegal immigration — after accounting for tax contributions — averages $8,776 per migrant or U.S.-born child of migrants annually.
