LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen announced Thursday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement inspectors have certified a Nebraska state prison to begin receiving federal detainees as it becomes a migrant detention facility.

Pillen said ICE inspectors completed a final walkthrough of the former McCook Work Ethic Camp this week, and the timeline for the first detainees to come to Nebraska is still being coordinated. Pillen said getting the final pieces together had been “a moving target” with the federal shutdown now on day 23. “Given the many tasks that had to be completed, including the transfer of remaining inmates, building modifications, training of staff and other components, we have made significant progress,” Pillen said in a statement.

Final security upgrades will continue in McCook “over the next day or so,” Pillen said, and additional modifications will allow the facility to house up to 300 detainees, from a maximum of about 200. Pillen’s update comes less than 24 hours before a Red Willow County District Court judge will hear arguments on a lawsuit seeking to temporarily stop the Nebraska-ICE partnership. The lawsuit is from 13 McCook residents and former State Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln. It argues the Nebraska-ICE contract is unconstitutional without legislative approval because of language they say delegates management of the state’s prisons to the Legislature.

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