The Department of Homeland Security just announced plans to open a new immigration detention facility in McCook, Nebraska—nicknamed the “Cornhusker Clink.”

This isn’t about public safety. It’s about expanding a system of mass detention and fear.

Under President Trump’s directive, DHS is partnering with the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to convert a former prison work camp into an ICE detention center, adding 280 new beds to a growing national network. But this isn’t just another facility—it’s part of a larger strategy that dehumanizes immigrants, fuels racial profiling, and ignores the humanitarian crisis at our borders.

Instead of reforming our broken immigration system, the government is doubling down on punishment—right in the heart of rural Nebraska.

The Trump administration has already launched detention centers like “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida and the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana. These jails don’t make us safer—they tear families apart, detain people indefinitely without charges, and target communities based on immigration status.

We say: not here, not in Nebraska, not in our name.

This petition calls on:

Governor Jim Pillen to withdraw Nebraska’s participation in the ICE partnership.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to cancel the “Cornhusker Clink” project immediately.

Let’s be clear: this facility won’t just detain “the worst of the worst.” It will hold people who overstayed visas, sought asylum, or fled violence—people who deserve due process, not indefinite incarceration in a rural prison camp.

McCook should not become a symbol of cruelty and political theater.