US President Donald Trump on Tuesday toured a remote migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz." 

The president was accompanied by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other officials.

The facility is located at an isolated airfield about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of downtown Miami.

It is surrounded by swamps teeming with mosquitoes, pythons, crocodiles and alligators.

Inside, it has rows of bunk beds surrounded by chain-link fencing.

Undocumented migrants could be housed there for days, weeks or months.

The site's remote location is meant to be a deterrent against illegal immigration.It has sparked legal challenges over its ecological impact and potential violation of the US Constitution. 

What did Trump say about the facility?

The state government built the facility in a matter of days as part of its efforts to help carry out Trump's immigration crackdown.

DeSantis said detainees could start arriving at the facility as soon as Wednesday. 

Trump praised the facility's quick construction as he scanned rows of dozens of empty bunk beds enclosed in cages.

He also warned about the threatening conditions surrounding the facility.

"I looked outside and that's not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon," Trump said at a roundtable event after his tour. "We're surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland and the only way out is really deportation.

"You don't always have land so beautiful and so secure. You have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops that are in the form of alligators. You don't have pay them so much," Trump said.

Ramping up deportations

The US president, who has pledged to deport as many as 1 million people per year, has said he wants to see similar facilities in other states to ramp up deportations of undocumented migrants.

The site known as "Alligator Alcatraz" can currently house 3,000 people. Florida officials say it can be expanded to ultimately house 5,000.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a record 59,000 detainees in custody across the United States, 140% above its capacity, according to data reported by US broadcaster CBS.

The center is estimated to cost $450 million a year. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse the state government for the expenses incurred, a US official told the AP news agency.

Critics have decried the facility as an inhumane makeshift prison camp, but a DeSantis spokesperson said: "Governor DeSantis has insisted that the state of Florida, under his leadership, will facilitate the federal government in enforcing immigration law."

"Florida will continue to lead on immigration enforcement," the statement added.

Edited by: Sean Sinico