By: Cindy Gonzalez
Nebraska Examiner
OMAHA — Nebraska reportedly is being considered as a home to one of the state-run, federally funded migrant detention centers that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem hopes to launch across the country in the likeness of “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Noem, in an interview with CBS News published Monday, said she hopes to establish a handful of similar detention centers near airports and jails in other states in the coming months, using Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades as a model. She said she had already appealed to governors and state leaders.
And CBS said potential sites already under consideration include Nebraska, Arizona and Louisiana.
Many states that support President Donald Trump’s mission of securing the border have empty or underused prison-like facilities, Noem noted. She said locations Homeland Security is considering are by airports and runways, which she said would help cut costs through “quick turnarounds.” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operates under the umbrella of Homeland Security.
State-owned property that could fit her site preferences could include land near the Omaha Correctional Center by Eppley Airfield and the Nebraska National Guard base near the Lincoln airport.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen’s office shared a statement Tuesday, saying that his team “continues to be in communication with federal partners on how Nebraska can best assist in these efforts.”
Pillen spokeswoman Laura Strimple said the governor is “staunchly committed to keeping Americans safe, our nation’s borders secure” and getting criminals “off our streets.”
She said it was premature to comment on potential detention operations, adding: “Gov. Pillen will make details public at the appropriate time.”
An ICE spokesperson told the Examiner in a statement Tuesday that the agency could not confirm “individual pre-decisional conversations” but said it would “confirm that ICE is exploring all options to meet its current and future detention requirements.”
The agency blamed the Biden administration’s border policies, and added: “ICE is proud to say we have enhanced enforcement and routine daily operations that have resulted in a significant number of arrests” necessitating greater detention capacity.
Noem’s strategy reportedly builds upon the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center that opened last month at a jetport in the South Florida marshlands. It was built in just days and has the capacity to house at least 3,000 migrants.
The effort would be assisted by the $45 billion set aside for ICE in President Donald Trump’s recently adopted “big beautiful bill.”
Nebraska State Sen. Terrell McKinney of North Omaha, a legislative watchdog on criminal justice issues, criticized the notion of Nebraska as a host site.
“The idea of Nebraska operating a state-run detention facility is crazy and should not move forward,” he said. “Our focus should be on addressing the current budget deficit and reversing the decline of our state’s economy, both of which will only worsen with proposals like this.”
McKinney said that under the Trump administration, “enforcement efforts have expanded far beyond individuals labeled as criminals.”
“Many law-abiding immigrants are being unjustly detained and torn away from their families,” he said.
Nebraska State Sen. Margo Juarez was terse in her reaction. Her South Omaha area district includes the worksite where a June 10 high-profile immigration raid took place, the largest enforcement operation in Nebraska since Trump took office the second time.
“There is no way we will welcome an Alcatraz,” Juarez said. “Look elsewhere.”
More than 70 undocumented immigrants were apprehended during the ICE-led raid at Glenn Valley Foods. Roughly 25 of the workers are still being detained at a North Platte jail, hours from where their families live. That jail contracts with the federal government to hold ICE detainees who are in removal proceedings.
Douglas County officials had previously opted not to renew a federal contract under which it was paid to hold ICE detainees at its Omaha jail.