Nebraska's governor announces plan for immigration detention center
Pillen said he and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had agreed to use an existing inmate work camp to house people awaiting deportation and being held for other immigration proceedings.
'This is about keeping Nebraskans – and Americans across our country – safe,' Pillen said in a statement.
The Trump administration is adding new detention facilities across the country to hold the growing number of immigrants it has arrested and accused of being in the country illegally. Older and newer U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement centers were holding more than 56,000 immigrants in June, the most since 2019.
The new and planned facilities include the remote detention center in the Florida Everglades known as 'Alligator Alcatraz,' which opened last month. It's designed to hold up to 3,000 detainees in temporary tent structures. When Trump toured it, he suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide.
The Florida facility also been the subject of legal challenges by attorneys who allege violations of due process there, including the rights of detainees to meet with their attorneys, limited access to immigration courts and poor living conditions. Critics have been trying to stop further construction and operations until it comes into compliance with federal environmental laws.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last week that his administration is preparing to open a second facility, dubbed 'Deportation Depot,' at a state prison in north Florida. It's expected to have 1,300 immigration beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000, state officials said.
Also last week, officials in the rural Tennessee town of Mason voted to approve agreements to turn a former prison into an immigration detention facility operated by a private company, despite loud objections from residents and activists during a contentious public meeting.
And the Trump administration announced plans earlier this month for a 1,000-bed detention center in Indiana that would be dubbed 'Speedway Slammer,' prompting a backlash in the Midwestern state that hosts the Indianapolis 500 auto race.
The Nebraska plan has already raised concerns.
In a video posted to social media, state Sen. Megan Hunt, an independent, blasted a lack of transparency about plans for the detention center, citing her unfulfilled request to the governor and executive branch for emails and other records about plans to build the facility. She urged people to support local immigrant rights groups, and said any response by the Legislature would not come until next year -- and only with enough support from lawmakers.
'The No. 1 thing we need to do is protect our neighbors, protect the people in our communities who are being targeted by these horrible people, these horrible organizations that are making choices to lock up, detain, disappear our neighbors and families and friends,' Hunt said.
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As partisan redistricting battles flare, Maine constitutional officers weigh in
Voters cast their ballots at the Quimby School gymnasium in Bingham, Maine on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. (Photo by Michael G. Seamans/ Maine Morning Star) Since President Donald Trump asked Texas to redraw its congressional maps to find five more Republican seats ahead of next year's elections, some Democratic states are considering redistricting to counter the effort. Maine is not, at least according to Gov. Janet Mills, though an anonymous group tried to encourage the Pine Tree State to intervene earlier this month by flying planes over Augusta with banners that read 'Mess with Texas.' The state's constitutional officers, Attorney General Aaron Frey and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, both Democrats, condemned Texas' move, and Trump instigating it, as a blatant abuse of power. But, they said Democratic states exploring the avenues legally available to them to redistrict outside the regular schedule is understandable. Bellows refrained from any judgement of those counter efforts, while Frey was more critical, particularly due to what he sees as a likely snowball effect. 'I am lamenting what this might mean for how our politics will continue, in terms of people trying to do the one-upsmanship,' Frey said in a sit-down with Maine Morning Star. 'As much as it probably sounds like it's a critique, it really is more of a concern about this being the evolution of where the politics is going.' The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the official party committee dedicated to electing Democrats to statehouses, called on Democrats on Aug. 4 to pursue redistricting opportunities to respond to possible changes to Texas' congressional map. Last week, California was the first state to release a proposal to that aim. 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Redistricting procedures vary state by state but largely happen every ten years following new census data. Under the Maine Constitution, the state Legislature must establish a bipartisan advisory commission to draw its congressional and legislative districts every ten years. These maps are then sent to the Legislature for approval, though lawmakers aren't bound to those recommendations. Approval requires a two-thirds vote, and because neither party has held a supermajority in the last decade, this has typically required bipartisan support. The map is then subject to the governor's approval. Maine last went through this process in 2021. Mills did not respond to multiple requests for comment about whether she supports the actions other Democratic states are considering to redraw their maps in response to Texas Republicans' attempts. A spokesperson told the Portland Press Herald in early August that she was not considering any actions related to redistricting in Maine. 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