BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's student government condemned the new ICE facility, dubbed 'Cornhusker Clink.'
- The resolution emphasized solidarity with immigrant and international students, opposing the use of 'Cornhusker' for a detention center that opponents say promotes division and harm.
- The article highlights the involvement of ICE in arresting criminal aliens, including gang members, and rescuing victims from sex trafficking rings.
The student government at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln recently passed a resolution condemning a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility nicknamed the “Cornhusker Clink.”
This is the unofficial name given to an existing prison called the McCook Work Ethic Camp, which the state is allowing federal officials to use as they expand their capacity to process illegal immigrants. There is no direct connection between the public university and the prison – Nebraska is called the “Cornhusker State.”
“This decision directly conflicts with the values that ‘Cornhusker’ represents to our university and state,” the resolution from the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska stated, according to the student newspaper.
“The term symbolizes unity, pride, and community spirit. Using it in connection with a detention center that separates and detains immigrants undermines those ideals and misrepresents what it means to be a Cornhusker,” the resolution stated, according to The Daily Nebraskan.
“ASUN stands firmly with immigrant and international students and with all individuals affected by this decision,” the resolution stated further. “We strongly oppose and condemn the use of ‘Cornhusker’ for a facility that promotes division and harm. This naming choice does not reflect the inclusive and welcoming environment that our university strives to uphold.”
Several students hared their frustration with the use of the name for a facility to hold illegal immigrants.
“Whatever happens in that detention center will be associated with the Nebraska Cornhusker name, and I think that it will also deeply impact our relationships with donors and alumni,” Rubi Ochoa, vice president of the Mexican American Student Association, said at the meeting.
Chloe Fitzgibbon, who is also a photographer for the Daily Nebraskan, called the name “shameful.”
The name for the facility is “so unprofessional and dehumanizing” and “is a betrayal of everything an institution of education should stand for, and our affiliation with it is nothing short of shameful.”
The Trump administration has struck deals with other states to use their prison facilities to help process illegal immigrants, many of whom are violent and have criminal records.
Other alliterative names include “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida and the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana.
ICE agents have been arrested illegal immigrants in Nebraska, including an MS-13 gang member, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“The Salvadoran national is a criminal alien wanted in El Salvador for the aggravated homicide of five victims; attempted aggravated homicide; deprivation of liberty; and terrorist organization affiliation,” DHS announced in July. He is “a high-ranking member of the violent MS-13 gang who was listed among El Salvador’s top 100 most wanted fugitives July 9.” Officers apprehended him in Omaha.
Agents also arrested an associate of the gang leader who “is accused of giving orders to fellow gang members to commit a variety of crimes, including multiple homicides, extortion, imprisonment and drug trafficking.”
Federal law enforcement also rescued 27 victims, including 10 children, from a sex trafficking ring organized by illegal immigrants in the Omaha area.
Illegal aliens from India, Mexico, El Salvador, and Venezuela were all arrested in connection to the criminal activity.
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