Florida has begun building a detention centre - dubbed the ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ - to temporarily hold migrants on an air strip in the Everglades.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the facility would be funded “in large part” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s shelter and services programme, which was previously used to provide accommodation and other aid for undocumented migrants.

The mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniela Levine Cava, a Democrat, criticised the plan, saying “the impacts to the Everglades ecosystem could be devastating”.

The Florida Everglades are a unique environmental region comprising marshes, prairies, forests, mangroves and estuaries. Uthmeier said the facility would not be located within Everglades National Park.