Contract for ICE Detention Camp Raises New Questions

LINCOLN, Neb. — After weeks of delays and public record request denials, Gov. Jim Pillen’s office has released the contract that facilitates the state’s repurposing of a McCook state prison facility into a state-owned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center.

Pillen shared a partially redacted contract publicly Friday, which had been signed more than two weeks ago, while facing a deadline to answer a public records request that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nebraska had submitted last month. A staff member in the governor’s office sent the contract and several related documents to the civil rights organization this afternoon.

The contract envisions the state operating the site as a 300-bed ICE detention center through at least September 2027, when the contract expires. Pillen said he expects the detention center to be “operational” by Nov. 1 of this year.

Jennifer Houlden, acting legal director of the ACLU of Nebraska, said:

“The governor put our state in uncharted territory with his unilateral decision to repurpose a state prison facility into an arm of a massive detention and deportation campaign. It speaks volumes that Nebraskans are only just now getting hard facts about this agreement, weeks after it has been signed. It is troubling that what we have now seen raises new questions and concerns about oversight, liability and the state’s authority to even open this facility.”

On Wednesday, 13 McCook residents and former State Sen. DiAnna Schimek, represented by Nebraska Appleseed, filed a lawsuit that argues the governor’s plan violates the Nebraska Constitution.