‘We don’t know what we don’t know’: Impact of ‘Cornhusker Clink’ on McCook is unclear

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center coming to McCook is expected to house up to 300 people and create some jobs.

But worry and unanswered questions are brewing among some neighbors.

“I do fear it’s going to run people out of McCook,” said McCook native and mom of four Olivia Johnson.

SEE ALSO: ‘Hard to comprehend’: Some in McCook protest ‘Cornhusker Clink’ announcement

Neighbors and business owners raised questions about how the center, called the “Cornhusker Clink,” could affect the people who live and work there.

“This makes me want to leave my hometown of McCook,” Johnson said.

The facility will be outside of town but still close to neighborhoods, schools and businesses.

“I think turning a facility like the Work Ethic Camp into a federal detention hub, it destroys our values as a community,” Johnson said.

SEE ALSO: ‘Cornhusker Clink’: Nebraska’s Work Ethic Camp will become ICE detention center

Business owners like Andrew Ambriz of Embers Bakery & Cafe said they’re thinking ahead, wondering how the facility could affect customers, staffing and overall community traffic.

“Our challenges as a community and as business owners is, ‘How do we prepare ourselves for whatever is coming?” Ambriz said. “We don’t know what we don’t know.”

He said people are wondering what will happen to the facility after the Trump administration ends. Will it stay an inmate detention center or return to its old purpose?

Gov. Jim Pillen told Channel 8 he didn’t want to speculate on what would happen to the facility after the contract with the Department of Homeland Security ends.

But he said right now, having a state correctional facility in McCook doesn’t make sense.

SEE ALSO: Would you feel unsafe living near an ICE detention facility?

Channel 8 reached out to the Red Willow County Sheriff’s Office about some of the safety concerns.

It referred a reporter to the governor’s office, saying it does not have all the information yet, either.

Pillen said the facility will make all Nebraskans safer by helping with immigration enforcement.

“Even hard-core Democrats got to believe that it’s important to keep us safe, to stop the flow of synthetic methamphetamines, sex trafficking, fentanyl,” he said. “And we have a bunch of those people that have gotten across, and they’re living within our communities across the country.”

The governor also said the ICE facility will not affect tourism in McCook.

“Nobody’s going to know the difference from how it is today versus being an ICE facility,” he said. “Zero impact.”

Johnson said she’s just hoping for more transparency as the project moves forward.

“Pillen was asked questions yesterday when he was at the airport, and he wasn’t giving straightforward answers,” she said. “He wasn’t answering certain questions at all.”