US President Donald Trump is expected to attend the opening tomorrow of a temporary immigration detention center in south Florida, dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The President is seeking to intensify the detention and deportation of immigrants and argues that the measure is necessary as millions of immigrants crossed the border illegally during the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden.

The center got that nickname from the remote location of Everglades, a vast area of subtropical-tropical wetlands that occupies the southern part of the US state of Florida, where one encounters alligators, crocodiles and pythons.

A Florida official said this month that the site provides physical barriers, requiring minimal security measures.

Trump will be accompanied by Christy Noem, the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security, who herself has asked the president to visit the area, the source said yesterday on condition of anonymity.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The number of illegal immigrants detained at the federal level has risen rapidly to 56,000 on June 15 from 39,000 when Trump took office, government figures show, and his administration is lobbying for more detention facilities.