Migrants should 'learn how to run from alligators', Trump says as he visits new Florida detention facility
Migrants housed at a new immigration detention centre surrounded by alligator-filled swamps in Florida should learn how to flee for reptiles if they want to escape, US President Donald Trump has joked ahead of a visit to the site.
Listen to this article
The facility in a remote part of the Florida Everglades was formally opened today following its rapid construction by the administration of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Dubbed, 'Alligator Alcatraz', it has been built on a little used airstrip surrounded by the creatures that will be used to house up to 3,000 people.
Speaking ahead of a visit to the site today, Trump said: “This is not a nice business."
He added that “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,” he later joked as he motioned his hand in a zigzag motion.
Read more: Donald Trump says he will 'take a look' at deporting Elon Musk as feud reignites
Read more: President Donald Trump set to visit 'Alligator Alcatraz' migrant detention facility on Tuesday
“And you know what? Your chances go up about 1%.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has described the facility as an 'efficient and low-cost way' to conduct the 'largest mass-deportation campaign in American history'.
"There is only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight," she said.
"It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain. The facility will have up to 5,000 beds to house, process and deport criminal illegal aliens."
The Florida Republican Party is selling 'Alligator Alcatraz' merchandise on its website, this includes t-shirts showing snakes and alligators outside a large building, as well as baseball caps and drinks coolers.
The facility has been built amid a controversial crackdown on migrants by the Trump administration which has seen more than 56,000 people detained by the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Two environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a bid to stop the "unlawful construction of a prison in the heart of the Everglades."
Protestors mounted their disagreement to the construction of 'Alligator Alcatraz' on June 28 and there are further protests anticipated on Tuesday.