Alejandra doesn’t leave her home unless she really needs to. She skips doctor’s appointments and church to remain undetected. And if she is detained by immigration enforcement officials, her 13-year-old son is prepared with a list of people to call and his social security number memorized.

“I cannot be separated from my kids,” said the 30-year-old undocumented mother of four children who were born in the United States. “I just can’t risk it.” CNN agreed to only use Alejandra’s first name to protect her identity out of respect for her safety concerns due to her immigration status.

The idea that her family might be ripped apart only crossed her mind recently, she said, when President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown penetrated the humble, quiet Nebraska community she calls home.

In June, a meatpacking plant in Omaha was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in what the agency described as the largest worksite operation in the state since the start of the Trump administration. Alejandra says several family friends and church acquaintances were among the dozens of people detained.

As that event continues to generate aftershocks, a new ICE detention center, dubbed the “Cornhusker Clink,” is opening in western Nebraska soon and is expected to hold up to 300 adults, a spokesperson for Nebraska’s Republican Gov. Jim Pillen told CNN Thursday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carried out raid at the Glenn Valley Foods meat production plant in Omaha, Nebraska, in June 2025. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Handout/Reuters

The facility will join other new ICE detention centers in Republican-led states, including “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida, “Louisiana Lockup” or “Camp 57” in Louisiana, and “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana.

These new ICE facilities “are significantly expanding detention space to house the worst of the worst illegal aliens,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN Wednesday.