President Trump says he will use a detention center at Guantánamo Bay to hold tens of thousands of criminal immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Border Czar Tom Homan briefed reporters Wednesday. Their comments followed President Trump's signing a memo ordering the preparation of a massive facility at Guantánamo Bay to house deported migrants.

Trump said earlier Wednesday that the U.S. has "30,000 beds in Guantánamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people."

Trump made the surprise declaration during the signing of the Laken Riley Act at the White House Wednesday afternoon.

Most people don’t even know that we have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”

The administration’s border czar, Tom Homan, said U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement would run the facility in Cuba and that the “the worst of the worst" could go to Guantanamo.

We’re evaluating and talking about that right now,’ Kristi Noem said on Fox News on Wednesday morning. ‘It’s the president's decision.’

The president says up to 30,000 criminal migrants deported from the United States could be housed at the facility in Cuba, but it wasn't immediately clear how the plan would be implemented.

Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to permit the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to use Guantanamo Bay to house up to 30,000 migrants.

Representative Cory Mills (R-FL) discussed President Donald Trump's recent memorandum ordering the detainment of 30,000 criminal illegal aliens in Guantanamo B

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed the Laken Riley Act into law, giving federal authorities broader power to deport immigrants in the U.S. illegally who have been accused of crimes. He also announced at the ceremony that his administration planned to send the “worst criminal aliens” to a detention center in Guantanamo