Detainees at a McCook, Nebraska ICE detention facility reported experiencing fear and hazardous conditions as wildfire smoke drifted into the center. The article documents detainees' accounts of their experiences, including prayer and other coping mechanisms during the smoky conditions at the facility.
ICE conducted an enforcement operation in Columbus and Platte County, Nebraska on June 26, 2026, targeting individuals who had failed to comply with previously issued deportation orders. One person was taken into custody during the operation. The detained individual had been previously deported. No further details were released by Columbus Police or ICE.
Thien, who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 1984 at age 3 and became a permanent resident, lost his green card status at 16 due to a mistake. After serving his sentence, he was placed on an order of supervision rather than deported because Vietnam was not accepting deportees. For 24 years, he complied with every condition of the order, maintained work authorization, built a business, and raised a family. When he attended a scheduled immigration appointment, he was detained within 10 minutes without an interview and is now facing deportation.
On June 10, 2025, ICE conducted a workplace enforcement operation at Glenn Valley Foods meatpacking plant in Omaha, Nebraska, detaining 76 employees as part of a three-month investigation into identity theft. Workers were accused of using stolen Social Security numbers from over 100 U.S. citizens to gain employment. Luis Mejia's mother was among those detained while Mejia, then 19, was released to support the separated family. Of those arrested, approximately 17 were deported immediately, 25 were released on bond, and 25 were transferred to other facilities. Most detainees remained in immigration court proceedings months later.
Virginia Lissbeth Pineda Lemus, a 21-year-old Salvadoran woman who crossed the U.S. border as an unaccompanied minor at age 16, was arrested on domestic assault charges in January 2026 and taken into ICE custody after posting bond on those state charges, which were later dismissed. She was held at Lincoln County Jail on an ICE hold for two months before U.S. District Judge John Gerrard ordered her outright release on March 13, 2026. Pineda described her detention as traumatizing, saying she was treated "more like an animal than a person." She remains in deportation proceedings but has reunited with her boyfriend and is building her case outside of jail.
Jorge Calderon Rivera, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who had lived in Omaha for approximately a decade with no criminal record, was detained by ICE agents on January 17, 2026, during a traffic stop while driving to work. He was held at McCook ICE facility for two months without receiving a bond hearing to which he was entitled. The ACLU of Nebraska and the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement filed a federal lawsuit on his behalf challenging the detention. U.S. District Judge Susan Bazis issued an order on March 3, 2026, finding the detention had an "unlawful aspect" and directing immigration officials to provide Calderon with a bond hearing within seven days. An immigration judge later granted his release on bond, and he was reunited with his wife and three children. He remains in deportation proceedings.
Joel Angel-Becerril, a 27-year-old DACA recipient from Omaha, was released from Sarpy County Jail on February 20, 2026, after nearly three months in ICE custody. His release followed a federal judge's mid-February order declaring his detention without a bond hearing unlawful. An Omaha Immigration Court judge subsequently dismissed his removal proceedings on Friday, February 24, 2026, finding that his DACA status provided protection against deportation. Angel-Becerril had filed a civil rights lawsuit with the ACLU of Nebraska, which intervened in the case.
About 150 students at Grand Island Senior High School walked out to protest ICE activity on February 17. During the protest, a 54-year-old man exchanged blows with students near West Lawn Elementary School. A water bottle was thrown through the man's car window during the altercation. The man was arrested for assault on a juvenile, and at least one juvenile was cited for assault; additional citations may follow.
At least 20 undocumented immigrants arrested in Minnesota during immigration sweeps since December 2025 were transferred to Nebraska county jails, including 19 at Lincoln County Detention Center and at least one at Sarpy County. Additional detainees were held at a federal immigration detention center in McCook. Legal representatives argue that transferring detainees across state lines complicates legal representation, as Minnesota-licensed lawyers cannot practice in Nebraska, and some fear federal immigration officials are forum-shopping for more sympathetic judges. The transfers are part of Operation Metro Surge, which has arrested more than 4,000 people since December.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bazis ordered ICE to provide Carlos Roldan Chang a bond hearing within seven days or release him immediately. Chang, 44, has lived in the U.S. since 2005 and was detained at the McCook facility under ICE's mandatory detention policy. The ACLU of Nebraska filed the civil lawsuit on his behalf after he was denied a bond hearing.
Juan and Angel were stopped by ICE on February 6, 2026, while on their way to work and taken to the McCook detention center. Their family launched a fundraiser to help cover lost income and attorney fees while the two men remain detained.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested four people at the Douglas County Courthouse in Omaha on Monday, January 27, 2026, while they were attending scheduled court appearances. Three of those detained faced DUI charges, and one faced charges related to hit-and-run and driving under a suspended license. One detainee had worked out a plea deal and was arrested seven minutes before his hearing was set to start. The judge denied a request to postpone the hearing, issued a warrant for failure to appear, and at least three of the four were transferred to the federal detention center in McCook.
Abdulkadir Sharif Abdi, a Somali refugee who became an addiction recovery leader, was arrested in December 2025 and transferred to Lincoln County Detention Center in North Platte, Nebraska. ICE described him as an active gang member, though community members contested this characterization. Abdi filed a habeas petition on December 9 claiming his detention was unlawful, and Judge Susan Bazis ordered his interim release on December 23 after the government did not contest the petition. Abdi was released on Christmas Eve with assistance from HOPE-Esperanza, a nonprofit serving North Platte's minority community, which helped him contact his family and book a flight home to Minneapolis.
Alejandra's undocumented parents, who own a home and pay taxes in Nebraska, plan to self-deport to Mexico within six months due to fears of detention by ICE and concerns about conditions at ICE facilities that could jeopardize the mother's health. The family has lived in Nebraska for years as part of a Latino community that has been present for decades, but rising ICE enforcement operations and a new detention facility opening in the state have created an atmosphere of fear among undocumented immigrants.
Alejandra, a 30-year-old undocumented mother of four U.S.-born children, lives in fear of detention and family separation in Nebraska as ICE enforcement intensifies. In June 2025, ICE conducted a raid on a meatpacking plant in Omaha, detaining dozens of people including family friends and church acquaintances. A new ICE detention facility called "Cornhusker Clink" is opening in McCook with capacity for 300 adults. Alejandra's undocumented parents plan to self-deport to Mexico within six months due to fears of detention and concerns about ICE facility conditions.
ICE served search warrants at agricultural firms including Christensen Farms in Minnesota and Nebraska, and in Las Vegas. The 15-month investigation targeted companies allegedly knowingly hiring undocumented workers. Criminal warrants were issued for 17 individuals in a conspiracy involving fraud and money laundering. 133 workers were administratively arrested.
ICE's Fugitive Operations Team arrested 44 people in a five-day operation across central Nebraska — 25 in Lexington, 12 in Grand Island, 2 in Broken Bow, and one each in Cozad, Gibbon, Hastings, Kearney, and North Platte. Twenty-eight were fugitives, 16 were immigration violators encountered during targeted arrests, and 10 had prior criminal convictions.
A worker at Glenn Valley Foods was convicted and sentenced to 14 months in prison for wielding a box cutter while attempting to resist an immigration arrest during the June 10, 2025 ICE raid.
Following the Glenn Valley Foods raid on June 10, 2025, federal authorities charged one woman worker with identity fraud. The woman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in prison. Despite ICE's initial claims that the raid uncovered 'massive identity theft,' only this single worker has been charged with identity fraud crimes as of one year later.
Luis Mejía, a 20-year-old Nebraska native raised in South Omaha, was at work at Glenn Valley Foods when ICE conducted a raid on June 10, 2025. Immigration officers asked him to prove U.S. citizenship; after looking him up in their system, they cleared him to leave. Mejía's undocumented mother was among those detained and taken to Lincoln County Detention Center four hours away. Mejía and his older brother were forced to provide for their two younger siblings while their mother was detained for an unknown duration, unable to contact her for several days.
Guadalupe Cabrera Mejia, a Glenn Valley Foods employee, was detained during the June 10, 2025 ICE raid and charged with felony misrepresentation of a Social Security number. Federal prosecutors allege she used the Social Security number of a U.S. citizen who had previously reported identity theft to the Internal Revenue Service. At her initial appearance in federal court, the judge ordered her to remain behind bars pending trial, and ICE placed a detainer on her as a precursor to deportation.
ICE conducted a raid on Glenn Valley Foods meatpacking plant in Omaha, Nebraska on June 10, 2025, detaining approximately 76 undocumented workers. The operation involved roughly 80 federal and local agents. One year after the raid, community leaders reported ongoing negative economic and social impacts in South Omaha's business district, including loss of business activity, reduced consumer traffic, and increased fear among immigrants. Of the detainees, close to 10 self-deported, others were granted bond and temporary work permits while facing immigration proceedings.
Osmar Lorenzo-Genchi, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen and employee at Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, Nebraska, was arrested during an ICE raid on June 10, 2025. After ICE officers confirmed his citizenship and released him, he joined protesters blocking law enforcement vehicles from leaving the scene. He struck a vehicle's mirror with his fists, bent a windshield wiper, and shattered a passenger-side window with a rock. He was convicted and sentenced to 22 months in prison for assaulting and impeding federal officers with a dangerous weapon. His mother, also a Glenn Valley Foods employee, was detained during the same raid and remained in custody at Lincoln County Jail. The raid resulted in the detention of 76 employees at the meatpacking plant.
In June 2025, ICE conducted a raid on a meatpacking plant in Omaha, the largest worksite operation in Nebraska since the start of the Trump administration. Dozens of workers were detained, including family friends and church acquaintances of Alejandra's family. The meatpacking industry in Nebraska, which includes major facilities for JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill, and Smithfield, depends heavily on immigrant labor, with immigrants representing approximately 53% of the state's workforce.
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