By MARGERY A. BECK, Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A minimum-security state prison in the remote southwest corner of Nebraska reconfigured to serve as a federal immigration detention center began accepting detainees earlier this week, Gov. Jim Pillen said Thursday.

The Republican governor said the facility at McCook — a remote city of about 7,000 people in the middle of wide-open prairies between Denver and Omaha — had between 50 and 60 immigrant detainees as of Thursday. The facility should be at capacity — currently 200 — by Thanksgiving, Pillen said.

Work is already set to begin on the second phase of the conversion, which would expand the facility to accommodate another 100 beds for a total of 300, he said.

“I would expect that the second phase will be ready in the first par

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