Florida-like 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention centers to come to your US state soon? Trump drops hint

US President Donald Trump recently visited the new Florida detention center "Alligator Alcatraz" where around 3,000 migrants are expected to be held as part of his aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration. While touring the facility in the Florida Everglades, Trump said it will soon hold the most "menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet".

The controversial detention facility is at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Florida Everglades, which has its own runway in an environment known for its treacherous terrain and wildlife. Trump toured inside the facility on 1 July, being shown around the internment camp that is designed to hold thousands of immigrants who have been seized by ICE.

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More detention centres to come up in US?

During his visit to "Alligator Alcatraz" in which Trump saw the cages people would be kept in, he said he would like to see interment camps like these opening up across 'many states'. The President also joked in his remarks that "we are going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison". The administration said alligators, crocodiles and pythons in the surrounding wetlands would keep detainees from escaping.

The president said the facility "could be" a model for future such facilities, adding that his administration was actively working with the governments of several Republican-run states, such as Louisiana, to find other suitable locations.

The president was asked if it could be a model going forward for other detention sites. "It can be," he responded, adding that such a location is rare. Trump said he'd like to see similar temporary facilities in "many states."

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He said: "Pretty soon, this facility will handle the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet. "The only way out, really, is deportation."

Trump joked that the immigrants who would be detained there under heavily criticised conditions would have to learn to avoid alligators if they escaped.

"We’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison. Don’t run in a straight line. Run like this," Trump said as he moved his hand in a zig-zag motion.

"And you know what? Your chances go up about one percent."

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Inmates arrive at Florida's Alligator Alcatraz

Earlier this month, first detainees arrived at $450 million migrant detention facility in the Florida as flood warnings spread around the region due to thunderstorms."Alligator Alcatraz," so dubbed for the wild alligators and pythons that surround the remote facility, was constructed in an area prone to frequent rains.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the immigration center will have an initial capacity of 3,000 detainees, expanding in 500 bed increments until it has an estimated 5,000 beds, according to DeSantis. The facility will be staffed by about 1,000 people, 400 of which will be guards and other security personnel. The center was built in eight days, and features 28,000 feet of barbed wire and more than 200 security cameras.

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The facility will have up to several thousand beds to house, process and deport individuals who were in the country illegally. Protesters even gathered outside the gates as construction work proceeded on the site in recent days, and a crowd of demonstrators turned out again Tuesday to protest Trump's visit, CBS News Miami reported.

"Alligator Alcatraz" is a temporary migrant detention facility in Ochopee, Florida and is located deep in Everglades. Some state lawmakers, the local mayor, environmental groups and neighbours oppose its construction, saying it could harm an important ecosystem.