TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The new immigration detention center at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades that President Donald Trump visited on Tuesday was heralded by Republicans as a potential model for other states to aggressively ramp up detention and deportation efforts.

Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other officials toured the facility, which was built by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration in a matter of days and is expected to receive its first detainees Wednesday.

The site can currently house 3,000 people in dormitories corralled by chain-link fences and topped with barbed wire, and state officials say it can be expanded to ultimately house 5,000. Protesters have decried the facility as an inhumane makeshift prison camp, but supporters have embraced it as an “innovative” and “cost-effective” way for the federal government to operationalize enough detention space to carry out Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

“We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland and the only way out is, really, deportation,” Trump said, adding, “This is an amazing thing that they’ve done here.”

Dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by state officials, the facility is located at an isolated airfield about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of downtown Miami and is surrounded by swamps filled with mosquitoes, pythons and alligators.

To Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials, locating the facility in the rugged and remote Florida Everglades is meant as a deterrent, and naming it after the notorious federal prison, an island fortress known for its brutal conditions, is meant to send a message. It’s another sign of how the Trump administration and its allies are relying on scare tactics to try to persuade people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily.

State and federal officials have touted the plans on social media and conservative airwaves, sharing a meme of a compound ringed with barbed wire and “guarded” by alligators wearing hats labeled “ICE” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility’s name.

Florida officials raced to erect the compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and temporary buildings in eight days, as part of the state’s muscular efforts to help carry out Trump’s immigration crackdown. The center is estimated to cost $450 million a year, with the expenses incurred by Florida and reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a U.S. official said.

Inside, rows of bunkbeds are surrounded by chain-link fencing, where migrants could be housed for days, weeks or months. Officials say detainees will have access to medical care, 24/7 air conditioning, and a rec yard, as well as support from attorneys and members of the clergy.

The facility is meant to help the Trump administration reach its goal of more than doubling its existing 41,000 beds for detaining migrants to at least 100,000 beds.

The site’s remote location is meant to be a deterrent against illegal immigration and a motivator for detainees to self-deport.