Thanks to Trump, Nebraska Will Soon Be Home to a Concentration Camp

One of the most controversial aspects of Donald Trump’s second term is “Alligator Alcatraz,” a facility built in southern Florida to house individuals who’ve been detained under his draconian immigration policies. The facility has been roundly criticized for its environmental and cultural impacts, living conditions, and high cost.

Make no mistake: “Alligator Alcatraz” is tantamount to a concentration camp.

Of course, Trump was never going to stop at just one concentration camp. After all, cruelty is a chief cornerstone of his administration. And so my beautiful home state of Nebraska is getting its very own concentration camp, dubbed “Cornhusker Clink” by DHS secretary Kristi Noem. (One can only imagine the brainstorming session that led to that particular title. Alliteration covers a host of sins and inhumanities, I guess. Also, I wonder how UNL feels about the term “Cornhusker” being associated with mass incarceration.)

“Cornhusker Clink” will be located in McCook, a city of 7,500 located four hours west of Lincoln, the state capital, and use its existing Work Ethic Camp, a facility that “[reduces] the risk of recidivism through behavioral change and [assists] incarcerated individuals with successful community reintegration.” The WEC’s current inmates will be shipped to other facilities to make room for 300 detainees, a number that will almost certainly strain the already-understaffed facility and result in poor living conditions akin to those reported in Florida.

No timeline’s been announced for the arrival of detainees in McCook but there’s already confusion over who, exactly, will be arriving. While state officials claim that “Cornhusker Clink” will only house low-to-medium risk individuals, a DHS statement suggests that it’ll house “the worst of the worst.” (Under Trump, though, “the worst of the worst” could mean anyone from rapists and murderers to kids with cancer, pregnant women, and non-criminals, so who really knows who will be sent to McCook?)

But here’s the real kicker… The funding for “Cornhusker Clink” comes from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, the very same bill that also contains massive cuts to Nebraska’s Medicaid program. Last month, uncertainty surrounding those cuts led to McCook’s Community Hospital shutting down a medical center in the neighboring town of Curtis.

So let’s just be crystal clear about what’s happening here: the very same policies that will make Nebraska an active participant in Trump’s cruelty will also harm Nebraskans by reducing medical care in the state’s rural regions. (The very same regions that, by the way, voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2024, including 83.48% of Red Willow County, where McCook is located.)

So let me ask my fellow Nebraskans: Does that sound like the “Good Life” we talk about with so much pride? Or is Trump slowly turning the “Good Life” into something else, something unrecognizable?