LINCOLN — The media spectacle of Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen unveiling plans for a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in the southwestern part of the state follows a political playbook from the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security touted the new facility, saying it would help ICE agents “remove the worst of the worst” — despite the governor and state agency heads explaining it would house only low-level and medium-risk immigration-related detainees.

Speaking inside McCook’s Ben Nelson Regional Airport as protesters gathered outside, Pillen said he was “proud to be a part of Trump’s Team” in an effort to “make sure we keep our community safe. He pointed to a previous arrest of an MS-13 “kingpin” in Omaha as a justification for

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