America’s immigration crackdown is gearing up even further, with one state poised to open a centre described as “a one-way ticket to regret for criminals”.

President Donald Trump is due in southern Florida on Tuesday (local time) to visit the centre, which state officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”.

The controversial detention facility is at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Florida Everglades. It covers nearly 80 square kilometres, is surrounded by swamp and even has its own runway.

Detainees will reportedly be housed in “sturdy tent structures”.

State governor Ron DeSantis – once a Trump presidential rival– said he expected the site to be up and running by the time of Trump’s visit.

“This is as secure as it gets,” he said during a media tour last week.

“If a criminal alien were to escape from here somehow – and I don’t think they will – you have nowhere to go. What are you going to do? Trudge through the swamp and dodge alligators on the way back – 50 or 60 miles (80-97 kilometres) – just to get to civilisation? Not going to happen.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed upcoming Trump’s trip.

“The facility is in the heart of the Everglades and will be informally known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’. 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 5000 beds to house, process and deport criminal illegal aliens. This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history.”

The expansion has drawn opposition from local environmental groups and Native American leaders, who consider the area their sacred ancestral homelands.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has said local officials “have significant concerns about the scope and scale of the state’s effort, particularly regarding the environmental safeguards in place given the potentially devastating impact to the Everglades”.

Local environmental group Friends of the Everglades has sued to stop the development.

“This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect,” executive director Eve Samples said.

But local Republicans have gone all in, with the Florida party selling merchandise promoting “Alligator Alcatraz”.

“The feds have green-lit Alligator Alcatraz — Florida’s gator-guarded, python-patrolled prison for illegal aliens who thought they could game the system,” a fundraising email from the Florida GOP quoted in Rolling Stone magazine read.

“Surrounded by miles of swamp and bloodthirsty wildlife, this ain’t no vacation spot. It’s a one-way ticket to regret for criminals who’ll wish they’d self-deported”

“Every shirt, hat, or koozie (stubby holder) you grab funds our push to keep Florida tough on crime, and tougher on borders.”

Shirts for sale feature an image of a prison in a swamp, with a python and an alligator in the foreground. The party is also selling hats and stubby holders.

The Florida project is part of a broader campaign of harsh optics which Republican officials hope will discourage migrants from coming to the US.

Since Trump returned to the White House in January, his administration has enlisted local authorities to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement ramp up arrests of undocumented migrants.

The crackdown has prompted pushback as law-abiding migrants and long-term US residents have also been swept up. Recently, it sparked protests in Los Angeles and other American cities.

Last month, Trump said he had ordered federal agencies to rebuild and reopen the original Alcatraz – the notorious maximum security prison in San Francisco that closed more than 60 years ago.

“I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Alcatraz once housed dangerous criminals such as mobster Al Capone.

The island prison was long considered inescapable, given the surrounding frigid waters and deadly currents. But it was closed in 1963 after being deemed too expensive to maintain.

In a further complication to Trump’s plan, Alcatraz has been a museum open to the public for more than half a century.