Work Ethic Camp (WEC) located in McCook, Nebraska. (Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, Courtesy)
MCCOOK — Nebraskans from across the state are expressing their discontent after Governor Jim Pillen announced plans last week to convert the Work Ethic Camp in the small town of McCook into a large-scale immigration detention facility.
A petition opposing the facility, curated by the local non-profit Nebraska Appleseed, garnered over 18,300 signatures from 386 Nebraska communities in about one week. It was delivered to Pillen on Thursday. The petition’s target was 15,000 names.
Signees were also welcome to leave a comment for the Governor:
“I came to Nebraska because I was excited for the amazing things this state stood for and was doing for its people,” wrote one Lincoln resident. “This detainment center is sickening and does not reflect Nebraskan values or the constitution of the United States. Shame on Jim Pillen for thinking we would turn on our neighbors like this.”
“Nebraskans and Nebraska resources should not participate in dividing families and in this detention center when these detention and deportation policies are not completely thought out have terrible detrimental consequences,” wrote another resident of Lincoln.
