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GUATEMALA CITY (AP) 鈥� The Homeland Security secretary is praising Florida for coming forward with an idea that鈥檚 been dubbed 鈥淎lligator Alcatraz鈥� because it would house immigration detainees in a facility being built in a Florida swamp.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the department has been looking to expand immigration detention capacity, and she has been reviewing contracts Immigration and Customs Enforcement has with various vendors for detention beds.

鈥淭he ones with some of the vendors that we had, I felt were way too expensive, and that those vendors were not giving us fair prices and so I went directly to states and to ask them if they could do a better job providing this service,鈥� she said in an interview with The Associated Press as her Latin America trip wound down late Thursday.

She said the department has been reaching out to states or companies who aren鈥檛 regular ICE contractors to see whether they鈥檙e able to provide the detention space the department needs at a better price.

鈥淲e really are looking for people that want to help drive down the cost but still provide a very high level of detention facility,鈥� she said.

Noem said Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier brought this particular idea to the department.

鈥淭hey were willing to build it and do it much quicker than what some of the other vendors were. And it was a real solution that we鈥檒l be able to utilize if we need to,鈥� she said. Noem said they evaluated the contract and it 鈥渕ade sense.鈥�

As the Trump administration has dramatically ramped up immigration enforcement around the country as part of its mass deportation effort, the number of people in ICE detention has swelled. ICE detention facilities are currently holding more than 56,000 immigrants in June, the most since 2019.

Florida officials have dubbed the facility that they’re building in the remote and ecologically sensitive wetland about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of downtown Miami as 鈥淎lligator Alcatraz.” The facility located at an isolated Everglades airfield surrounded by mosquito-, python- and alligator-filled swamplands is just days away from being operational.

The detention facility is the latest effort by Florida to assist in President Trump鈥檚 mass deportation agenda.

Noem said some of the ICE detention contracts put in place under her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, were for 10-15 years.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 insane to me. If we do our job correctly, we shouldn鈥檛 be doing this 15 years from now,鈥� she said.

The detention contracts were among a range of subjects Noem spoke about with the Associated Press during an interview in Guatemala City on the tail end of her four-country tour through Central America. Noem made stops in Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala.

Here are some of the other highlights of the conversation:

Signing security agreements

Noem said that President Trump 鈥渆ncouraged鈥� her to visit countries in Central America that have historically been points of origin for many migrants to the United States and 鈥済et more security agreements or to finalize ones鈥� where discussions had already started 鈥� and to 鈥済et them across the finish line.鈥�

She praised Honduras for being 鈥渕uch more of a partner鈥� than in the past and said that they had signed a safe third country agreement with Honduras, calling it a 鈥渂ig win from this trip.鈥� She said Guatemala on Thursday also agreed to be a safe third country.

The agreements expand the Trump administration鈥檚 efforts to provide the U.S. government flexibility in returning migrants not only to their own countries, but also to third countries as it attempts to ramp up deportations.

鈥淲e鈥檝e never believed that the United States should be the only option, that the guarantee for a refugee is that they go somewhere to be safe and to be protected from whatever threat they face in their country,” she said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 necessarily have to be the United States.鈥�

Noem said those agreements were something the administration has been working on 鈥渇or months鈥� but they weren鈥檛 happening 鈥渦ntil we came here.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e been putting a lot of pressure on them to finalize those agreements,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd both of those countries did, which is great.鈥�

Both governments denied having signed safe third-country agreements when asked following Noem鈥檚 comments.

Noem had said Thursday that 鈥減olitically, this is a difficult agreement for their governments to do.鈥�

Both countries have limited resources and many needs making support for asylum-seekers from other countries a tougher sell domestically. There are also the optics of two left-of-center governments appearing to help the Trump administration limit access to U.S. asylum.

Noem also signed an agreement with Guatemala on Thursday that establishes a Joint Security Program under which U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers would work with the Guatemala government to improve border security in Guatemala.

Under the agreement, CBP officers will be stationed at the country鈥檚 international airport and possibly other airports in the future to assist the Guatemalan government in identifying travelers who might be involved in terrorism or other crimes or pose a threat to Guatemala by smuggling contraband or currency in or out of the country.

鈥楢merica鈥檚 strongest partners鈥�

Noem said both Costa Rica and Guatemala want to partner with the United States. 鈥淕uatemala and Costa Rica, I feel like, are competing for this a little bit. They both want to be America鈥檚 strongest partners,鈥� she said.

Costa Rica specifically wants U.S. help in its efforts to screen every person or package coming into the country, she said.

Noem said Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves isn鈥檛 asking the U.S. to pay for the technology or equipment but instead wants help negotiating with private companies to get Costa Rica what it needs.

The partnership is different in Guatemala, though. There, Noem said, the government wants American help in going after drug cartels.

Speaking of her talks with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo, she said he had specific requests during their meeting Thursday designed to help Guatemala target cartels.

鈥淗e wants us to help support him in going after them because they鈥檙e seeing a big increase in drug usage here in this country,鈥� she said.

She said Panama, which is home to the economically crucial Panama Canal, has been a 鈥減riority of this administration.鈥� The country is also a key part of the migration route from South America to the United States. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of migrants have traversed the treacherous Darien Gap connecting Panama and Colombia.

Although that traffic started to fall last year under the Biden administration and dwindled to nothing after Trump took office, Noem said during her time in Panama they discussed how to sustain that drop. But she was critical of Panama when it came to information-sharing: 鈥淭hat country has worked with us, but it hasn鈥檛 been our greatest partner I would say as far as sharing information.”