President Donald Trump set to visit 'Alligator Alcatraz' migrant detention facility on Tuesday
US President Donald Trump is expected to visit the new 'Alligator Alcatraz' migrant detention centre in Florida on Tuesday.
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The new facility will formally open today following its rapid construction by the administration of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
It has been built on a little used airstrip in the Florida Everglades that was seized by Gov. DeSantis using emergency powers and will be used to house up to 3,000 people.
President Trump is due to visit the site as the first detainees are set to arrive later today.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt 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."
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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.