Trump has been heavily criticized after threatening to deport people "born in our country," saying they need to "get the hell out of here".
Before the 79-year-old was announced as the 47th President of the United States, he vowed to enforce a stringent immigration policy that would arrest and deport “millions and millions" of undocumented immigrants.
Earlier this week, Trump followed through with those promises by visiting a new detention facility built on an abandoned airstrip in the middle of the Everglades near Miami, at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.
The facility, which is dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," will hold around 1,000 detainees whom the President described as the most "menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet," per BBC News.
The administration said that operations will begin in July or August and that alligators, crocodiles, and pythons in the surrounding wetlands would keep prisoners from escaping.
“We are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people's mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, adding that the facility will be funded through FEMA to help “expand facilities and bed space in just days," according to the outlet.
At the migrant detention center, Trump spoke to reporters at a press conference and made a haunting threat toward a specific group of Americans.
“We also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time,” he said, per ABC News. “They're not new to our country. They're old to our country. Many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here, too, if you want to know the truth. So maybe that will be the next job.”
His comments quickly went viral online, with one X user slamming: "Citizens. I’m going to say it again. This is fascism. MAGA can cry all you want, but this is exactly what every f***ing dictator in history wanted. Wake the f*** up."
Another blasted: "So now it's deporting people born within the United States. American democracy is falling apart in broad daylight."
A third shared: "That's no longer deportation. You can't deport a United States citizen OUT of the United States. That is literally abduction. Call it what it is."
And, a fourth added: "For those who think fascism is too extreme a way to characterize who Trump is and what he wants to do, explain this please."
Trump also drew backlash for making light of migrants possibly attempting to escape the facility. When asked by a reporter about the risk of detainees getting eaten by wildlife, he said: “I guess that’s the concept. Snakes are fast, but alligators... we’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator. Don’t run in a straight line, run waving hand like this," he said, moving his hand in a zigzag motion.
One social media user reacted to his comments: “He really does think this is just a big reality TV show. And most of his supporters act as though it is too," while a second added: "Unspeakably cruel is a hallmark of MAGA. Democrats need to begin to adopt some of this cruelty toward the enemies of American ideals."
While immigration raids have intensified across the country under Trump’s second term, the Miami-Dade area has seen fewer aggressive operations.
However, fear of detention at the new site has led many undocumented people in the region to stay home, worried they could be swept up in the president's expanding deportation efforts.
At the press conference, Trump signaled he wants to see similar detention centers established “in really, many states” across the country, per The Independent.