McCook Deserves More Than a Nickname

August 21, 2025

McCOOK Neb. — I want to be clear: I oppose the creation of an ICE detention center in McCook. Not because I believe our community is unsafe, and not because I think immigration is something that can be solved with razor wire and steel bars — but because the system itself feels like a violation of human rights.

If I trusted that only dangerous criminals were being detained, that might be one thing. But the truth is harder. Immigration in the U.S. is made deliberately complicated, and in my view, that’s less about protecting us and more about keeping labor costs low. The harder it is for people to come here legally, the more vulnerable workers are — and the easier it is for industries to exploit them. That’s not about safety. That’s about profit.

Pair that reality with political talk about accessing people’s private medical records, and it begins to look less like public safety and more like control. Add the Governor’s words this week — calling McCook a “Mayberry community” — and suddenly it feels like our voices don’t count. We’re quaint. We’re cute. We’re small enough to be ignored.

And then there’s the name: the “Cornhusker Clink.”

On the surface, it sounds like a joke. Just a bit of wordplay. But names matter. The name strips McCook out of the story entirely, just as “Alligator Alcatraz” did to another community. You can’t easily Google “Cornhusker Clink” and find what people here are saying or how they’re affected. It erases both the detainees inside and the residents outside. It makes real human stories harder to find. It is, intentionally or not, dehumanizing.

This matters because McCook did not vote for clones. We did not elect a government to speak with one voice and keep the rest of us quiet. When the Governor prioritized a parade photo-op over a public, transparent conversation with our mayor and residents, it sent the message that this decision was never meant to include us. It was something done to us, not with us.

McCook is not Mayberry.

McCook is not a punchline.

And McCook should not be reduced to a “Clink.”

We are a community of people who care deeply about our neighbors, who care about fairness, and who deserve honesty. If this detention center is really about safety, then let’s hear the facts — all of them — and let’s have that conversation openly, with many voices, not just one.

Until then, we should not let anyone — whether in Lincoln, Washington, or anywhere else — define us with a nickname that makes our people, and the people who will be held here, smaller than they are.

Anna LaBay

Founder of McCook News Now