By Amy Lee
New footage from Donald Trump鈥檚 so-called 鈥淎lligator Alcatraz鈥 offers a bleak glimpse inside the newly established migrant centre hidden deep in the Florida Everglades, where US authorities plan to detain up to 5000 people in wire cages.
Video captured during a tour led by the US President shows rows upon rows of empty bunk beds lined up inside the controversial facility, each enclosed within cages built from chain-link fencing.
It is located around 60km from Miami, in a vast subtropical wetland full of alligators, crocodiles, and pythons.
鈥淚 looked outside, and that鈥檚 not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon,鈥 Mr Trump told reporters after his tour.
鈥淲e鈥檙e surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation.鈥
The complex in southern Florida at the Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport is estimated to cost $US450 million a year ($AU684 million) to operate, with the first migrants arriving as early as Wednesday (local time).
Mr Trump raved about the quick construction of the new compound, saying, 鈥淚t might be as good as the real Alcatraz鈥.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a little controversial, but I couldn鈥檛 care less,鈥 he added.
Mr Trump was joined by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis when he told reporters he鈥檇 like to see more facilities like 鈥淎lligator Alcatraz鈥 opened in 鈥渕ore states鈥.
In promoting the opening of the facility, the White House posted on social media images of alligators wearing Immigration and Customs Enforcement hats.
Mr DeSantis has described the push to build the facility as Florida鈥檚 continued effort to align the state with the Trump Administration鈥檚 immigration crackdown.
Inside the facility there is reportedly a recreation zone, which is inside a large tent with air conditioning and artificial grass, according to NBC who attended a tour.
US media outlets on the tour were told that a law library would be installed but this was not shown to reporters.
There has been significant pushback from Democrats, immigration advocates and Florida lawmakers who see the project as inhumane and destructive to the Everglades ecosystem.
They have fiercely objected to detaining people in the middle of a swamp surrounded by dangerous animals in the blistering Florida heat.
鈥淭he impacts this would have to the Everglades ecosystem could be devastating,鈥 Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.
Mark Fleming, the Associate Director of Federal Litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Centre, also expressed concern about the facility.
鈥淭he fact that the administration and its allies would even consider such a huge temporary facility on such a short timeline, with no obvious plan for how to adequately staff medical and other necessary services, in the middle of the Florida summer heat is demonstrative of their callous disregard for the health and safety of the human beings they intend to imprison there,鈥 he said.
鈥淚t simply shocks the conscience.鈥