Red Willow County District Judge Patrick Heng hears arguments from attorneys Nick Grandgenett, left, and Jennifer Huxoll, right, about the legality of converting the state’s Work Ethic Camp in McCook, Nebraska, into an immigration detention center. Oct. 24, 2025. (Erin Bamer/Nebraska Examiner)
By Aaron Sanderford, Nebraska Examiner
Lincoln, NE – The district judge in southwest Nebraska’s Red Willow County who ruled in October that the Pillen administration had the legal authority to convert a state prison into a federal detention center for migrants without additional legislative approval dismissed the broader lawsuit with prejudice on Friday.
The Work Ethic Camp in McCook, Nebraska. Oct. 24, 2025. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner)
Red Willow County District Judge Patrick Heng, responding to a lawsuit by 13 McCook residents and former State Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln, agreed with the state that the Legislature had previously tasked the executive branch with managing state prisons.
As such, the court ruled that Gov. Jim Pillen and the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services legally entered into the detention contract the state signed with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.
Attorneys for Schimek and the McCook residents had argued in court filings that the state had violated the constitutional separation of powers by taking legislative power over the McCook prison as an administrative function. They also argued that the McCook Work Ethic Camp had been designated in statute as a state prison facility and therefore could not be changed without another act of law, in part because it had appropriated money legislatively for that purpose.
One of the key arguments is that by relocating inmates from the formerly rehabilitative and transitional prison to other, more traditional prisons, the state had effectively closed the camp and ended a legally mandated facility without changing the law.
Protesters in front of the Red Willow County District Court in McCook, Nebraska. Oct. 24, 2025. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner)
Much of the dismissal on Friday echoed an October finding with more finality. Heng dismissed the lawsuit in a way that means it can’t be refiled. He credited the litigants with doing “an extremely thorough job in presenting their case.”
But his ruling granted a state motion to dismiss on the points of law, saying, “There has been no violation of separation of powers in the defendants’ actions.”
“The facts in this litigation are not in dispute,” he wrote. “The applicable constitutional provisions and statutes are not in dispute. The various legislative provisions are not in dispute.” He made the plaintiffs foot the court costs.
A legislative bill this year from State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha to prohibit state-federal immigration agreements without prior legislative approval, such as the partnership in McCook, remains stalled in the Judiciary Committee.
Nick Grandgenett, Nebraska Appleseed’s senior attorney for immigrants and communities and lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said his team was “disappointed with the court’s decision and are reviewing today’s opinion.”
“We will confer with our clients and anticipate an appeal in this matter,” he said.
The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office had no immediate comment.
Gov. Jim Pillen, in a statement, called the decision a “huge victory and the right decision” to affirm the state’s authority to use the McCook Work Ethic Camp as an ICE detention center.
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